William Whately’s Chancery Suit: II. Franklin’s Answer
Summary of AD: Public Record Office
<19th April 1774. The Answer of Benjamin Franklin to the
Bill of Complaint of William Whately: The defendant reserves the
right of exception to the many errors and insufficiencies in the
bill. In reply to as much of it as he is advised is material and
necessary for him to answer, he says that: He has been told and
believes that Thomas Whately is dead, but does not know when he died.
He does not know but believes it may be true that the complainant is
his administrator, that Thomas Whately corresponded for some years
before his death with Thomas Hutchinson and Andrew Oliver of Boston,
and that the six letters from Hutchinson and the four from Oliver
mentioned in the bill were part of this correspondence. He does not
know of any other letters. He does not know whether the letters in
question were in Thomas Whately’s custody at the time of his death,
but has heard and believes that he had delivered them to some person
or persons; to whom and for what purpose and under what if any
restrictions the defendant cannot say. The letters came into his
possession, as agent of the Massachusetts House of Representatives,
in or about November or December, 1772. He had not before known of
their existence, and did not and does not know whether they were
addressed to Thomas Whately, although he has lately heard that they
were and has no information to the contrary. He has not for seven
years past, alone or with others, carried on the trade of a printer.
Neither he nor any one acting for him caused publication of the
letters or erased an address on them. As agent he sent the letters,
as he “humbly apprehended it was his duty to do,” to a member of the
House with whom he had been directed to correspond, because in his
judgment they bore on matters of great importance to the province and
because they had been given to him for transmission. He believes that
they have been published and widely disseminated in Massachusetts and
elsewhere, but this was done without his knowledge or consent. He
does not know of any printed copies sent to his friends in London,
and has received only one or two himself. He has corresponded with
the aforesaid member of the House, but is not obligated to divulge
the details of the correspondence. He neither wanted to nor could
keep the letters secret for the purpose of preventing any one in
Massachusetts from sending information about them to the complainant,
who as far as he knew had no right, interest, or concern in them. He
has heard from the aforesaid member of the House that the letters
were received, but he is not obligated to divulge what he has learned
from correspondence with him or any one else about how they were
treated in Boston or elsewhere, or to say whether that correspondence
is now in his custody. Neither the originals nor copies of
Hutchinson’s and Oliver’s letters are in his possession (he has given
to some person or persons whom he cannot remember the printed copies
that he received) except the authenticated and notarized copies sent
to him as agent to support the petition from the House, and copies of
those copies made for briefing counsel, and “a Copy thereof or some
part thereof lately Printed and Published.” He never did and does not
intend to have copies printed in this kingdom or anywhere else. The
complainant never requested him to deliver the originals or copies in
his possession, to desist from publishing them, or to tell him where
they were or how he acquired them or to whom he transmitted them, and
never gave him, prior to his bill, any intimation of such questions.
He cannot deliver the letters or copies of them because he has none
in his possession except as aforesaid. He is not obligated to say how
or from whom he obtained the letters or to whom he sent them. They
were given to him as agent, without his paying any consideration or
reward for them. He cannot say how many copies have been sold or for
what price; he made no profit whatsoever from their publication. He
denies the unlawful combination and confederacy alleged in the bill.
It contains nothing else that requires an answer and that he has not
answered. He humbly prays to be dismissed with reasonable costs and
charges.>
B. Franklin
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