h Dr. Franklin, and his position
with the Ministry, induced him to undertake a mediation between them; in
which his sister seemed to have been associated. They carried from
one to the other, backwards and forwards, the several propositions and
answers which passed, and seconded with their own intercessions, the
importance of mutual sacrifices, to preserve the peace and connection
of the two countries. I remember that Lord North's answers were dry,
unyielding, in the spirit of unconditional submission, and betrayed an
absolute indifference to the occurrence of a rupture; and he said to
the mediators distinctly, at last, that 'a rebellion was not to be
deprecated on the part of Great Britain; that the confiscations it would
produce, would provide for many of their friends.' This expression was
reported by the mediators to Dr. Franklin, and indicated so cool and
calculated a purpose in the Ministry, as to render compromise hopeless,
and the negotiation was discontinued. If this is not among the papers
published, we ask, what has become of it? I delivered it with my own
hands, into those of Temple Franklin. It certainly established views
so atrocious in the British government, that its suppression would, to
them, be worth a great price. But could the grandson of Dr. Franklin
be, in such degree, an accomplice in the parricide of the memory of his
immortal grandfather? The suspension, for more than twenty years, of
the general publication, bequeathed and confided to him, produced for
a while hard suspicions against him: and if, at last, all are not
published, a part of these suspicions may remain with some.

I arrived at New York on the 21st of March, where Congress was in
session.

APPENDIX TO THE MEMOIR.

[NOTE A.] Letter to John Saunderson, Esq.

Sir,

Monticello, August 31, 1820.

Your letter of the 19th was received in due time, and I wish it were
in my power to furnish you more fully, than in the enclosed paper,
with materials for the biography of George Wythe; but I possess none in
writing, am very distant from the place of his birth and early life,
and know not a single person in that quarter from whom inquiry could
be made, with the expectation of collecting any thing material. Add
to this, that feeble health disables me, almost, from writing; and,
entirely, from the labor of going into difficult research. I became
acquainted with Mr. Wythe when he was about thirty-five years of age.
He direct