William Whately’s Chancery Suit against Franklin: I. The Bill in
Equity
Summary of DS in the Public Record Office; copy: State House,
Boston
<7th January 1774. To the Right Honourable Lord Apsley, Lord
High Chancellor of Great Britain: Your petitioner, William Whately of
London, banker and administrator of the estate of the late Thomas
Whately, deceased, shows unto your Lordship that: Thomas Whately,
late of the parish of St. James, Westminster, carried on a
correspondence with the Hon. Thomas Hutchinson and the Hon. Andrew
Oliver of Boston in New England. Included in this Correspondence were
six letters from Hutchinson dated between June 28, 1768, and October
10, 1769, and four letters from Oliver dated between May 7, 1767, and
August 12, 1769. At the time of Whately’s death these letters were
either in his possession or had recently been given by him to some
other person, to be read and safely returned. Shortly before or after
his death they came, by means unknown to your petitioner and without
his or Thomas Whately’s consent, into the possession of Benjamin
Franklin or some other person or persons working with him or at his
direction. Franklin, who is or has lately been in the printer’s
trade, has caused the letters to be published without the knowledge
or consent of Thomas Whately, your petitioner, Hutchinson, or Oliver.
Franklin or some one else caused the addresses to be defaced, and
transmitted the letters to friends or agents in Boston or elsewhere
for publication. Many copies were printed there, and many sent back
to London to Franklin and his confederates. Franklin corresponded
with divers persons in Boston and elsewhere about the letters,
arranged for their publication, and directed that they be concealed
from certain persons who might have given your petitioner information
about them. Franklin or others have acknowledgments of the receipt
and publication of the letters. He still has in his possession some
of the original letters and copies of those printed, and threatens to
publish them in this kingdom. Your petitioner has applied to him to
deliver the originals and all copies in his custody, to desist from
publication, and to account to him for the profits thereof; but
Franklin, confederating with persons unknown but who should be
discovered and made parties to the suit, refuses to deliver the
originals and copies or to reveal where they are or how, from whom,
or by whose assistance they came into his possession, or to whom he
transmitted them, and pretends that he gave a valuable consideration
for them to some person or persons he refuses to name, and that your
petitioner has no right to or interest in them. This pretension is
contrary to equity and good conscience and tends to your petitioner’s
manifest injury. Therefore, because strict rules of common law offer
no remedy to your petitioner, only by the assistance of a court of
equity can he make discovery of the matters mentioned, compel
redelivery of the letters and copies, and restrain further
publication. To that end he begs that Franklin be made to answer in
particular the following questions: If Thomas Whately is dead, when
did he die? Did your petitioner or any one else have administration
of his estate? Was there a correspondence between Thomas Whatly,
Hutchinson, and Oliver, and if so for how many years? During those
years did not Whately reside in England and Hutchinson and Oliver in
Boston? How many letters did Whately receive from each, and in
particular did he receive the ten letters in question? Were they in
his or some one else’s custody when he died, or had he delivered them
to some person or persons for perusal and return, and if so when and
to whom? Did they come into Franklin’s possession, and if so when,
where, and by the hands of what person or persons did he see and
obtain them? Did he or such person or persons receive them with the
knowledge or consent of Thomas Whately or your petitioner? Does not
Franklin now, or did he not lately, carry on the trade of a printer?
Did not he or some other person, and if so who, publish the letters
without the consent of Thomas Whately, your petitioner, Hutchinson,
or Oliver? Which of the letters was addressed to Thomas Whately, and
when, by whom, and for what purpose was the address removed? Did
Franklin transmit such letters to friends or agents in Boston or
elsewhere in America for the purpose of publication, or for what
other purpose, and what letters were sent and to whom? Were copies of
the letters, not printed or disposed of in Boston, sent from there to
Franklin or his agent in England? Did Franklin not correspond about
the letters with divers persons in Boston and elsewhere, and if so
with whom? Did he give instructions about publication, about
concealing the letters from certain persons, and about showing them
to certain others under promise of secrecy or similar restriction,
and if so who were the persons and what were the restrictions? Let
him set forth all the correspondence in which the letters are
mentioned, and say how many and which of them are now in his custody
and how many copies, whether printed or not, and whether he intends
to publish them in this kingdom. Let him explain why he refuses to
deliver the originals and copies to the petitioner, where they now
are, and when, how, from whom, and for what valuable consideration he
obtained them. Let him be required to deliver them to the petitioner
and account to him for receipts for all copies sold, and be
restrained from publishing and otherwise using the originals or
copies. The petitioner begs for a writ of injunction to restrain
Franklin accordingly, and a writ of subpoena to require him and his
confederates, when discovered, to appear and make answer to all the
premises and to abide by such further orders as to the court shall
seem meet.>
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