Talk:The Law of Nations

1760 and 1787 or 1793 translations

The 4th English translation from 1797 is at https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/vattel-the-law-of-nations-lf-ed

Is there a copy of the 1st English translation from 1760 or the 2nd English translation from 1787 or the 3rd English translation from 1793 online somewhere? I'm curious to look at them for differences. WakandaQT (talk) 05:02, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

three original French copies

I am wondering if someone could explain how we come to the conclusion that all three copies of the book that Franklin received from Dumas were

1. in French
2. original copies from 1758

Is this context found somewhere in the letter itself, or is this rather evidenced in the copies actually being relocated?

If it is not in the letter itself then I think we would need additional sources explaining their language and publication dates.

Franklin refers to "your edition of Vattel" being kept. WakandaQT (talk) 15:46, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

Franklin Papers confusion

The 2nd note at bottom of https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-22-02-0172 mentions:

The first two are above,

the earlier one in a draft dated May 17;

the third is missing.

For the baffling change in the bearers’ names see the note on the May letter,

and for the subsequent adventures of Alexandre Pochard and what little we know about his friend Vaillant see Pochard to bf below, Oct. 11.

Would anyone know where the "below" for "Pochard to bf" on Oct. 11 refers to? I don't know if there was a hyperlink at some point in the original "Franklin Papers" that Archives.gov got this from?

This is the last use of "pochard" on this page but perhaps the structuring of the Franklin Papers was different and we lost some kind of foot note here? Basically want to read about these "subsequent adventures" perhaps to clarify who Vaillant was as this page uses no forename like it does with establishing Alexandre was who Franklin mention by Messr Pochard.

I'm thinking this https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-22-02-0385

The top title there says "To Benjamin Franklin from Alexandre Pochard, 11 October 1776" although weirdly the date in french is listed "Montreal Le 11 8bre. 1776."

Was "8bre" some kind of unusual French abbreviation for "October" ? In French it's similar "octobre" so I guess substituting "8" for "octo" might have been a common shorthand at the time? Okay so in reviewing this while the letter itself does not mention the name Vaillant there is a 5th note at the bottom which elaborates:

5. The M. Vaillant who had come with him to America; see bf to Dumas above, Dec. 9. We know nothing about him except that his family was connected with Pochard’s, and that he remained in America. On Feb. 17, 1781, an abbé Pochard wrote bf enclosing a letter that he asked to have forwarded to Vaillant, who was then in Philadelphia. APS.

This note is after the sentence "Je ne demande pour la reparation des torts que jai endurés en mon particulier que la Continuation de vos bontés pour mon ami." so presumably Vaillant is the "mon ami".

In looking for the 17 Feb 1781 letter referenced above, I came across this 26 Nov 1780 one instead at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-34-02-0041

Writing from Alligny on the Loire on February 17, the abbé Pochard⁴ pleads the cause of a family that needs the presence or the power of attorney of M. Vaillant, his friend in Philadelphia, if they are to avoid huge procedural expenses. He hopes that Franklin will forward the enclosed letter and transmit to him the answer. He expresses his fond wishes for America’s freedom and sends greetings to Temple, Dumas, and a couple unknown to us named Bedelic.

On a subsequent Saturday evening, the abbé thanks Franklin for having agreed to forward the letter in question. He would have brought it himself had he not been called to Tours on important business. His address is at the house of Madame Greuze in Montmartre.

The (4) below:

Possibly Joseph Pochard (1715–1786) who taught theology at the University of Besançon: Biographie universelle.

This posited possibility could be wrong, given that it's elsewhere established that Alexandre (not Joseph) is the one who is friends with M. Vaillant, although I guess plausibly both of them might've been friends with him. Does anyone know if there is a familial connection between Alex and Jo?

Okay finally found the Feb 17 letter at https://franklinpapers.org/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=34&page=379a002 which says:

Mais, Monsieur, il s’agit de la tranquillité d’une famille entiere, qui a besoin de la présence ou de la procuration par écrit de mon ami Vaillant, actuellement à Philadelphie, pour prendre des arrangemens et éviter des frais immenses de procédure.

Rough trans (google):

But, sir, it is a question of the peace of an entire family, which needs the presence or written power of attorney of my friend Vaillant, now in Philadelphia, to make arrangements and avoid immense costs of procedure.

On 2nd glance I'm not entirely sure that the English letter to Franklin pertainining to Pochard+Vaillant was actually received November 26th. I had only focused on the title and overlooked these notes:

Money, once again, predominates among the concerns Franklin is asked to address between November 15, 1780, and April 30, 1781

the requests summarized in this headnote are written in French and deposited at the APS. A number of the documents lack almost any clue as to date. We believe, without absolute proof, that they could have been sent in the winter of 1780–1781, and we therefore include them here.

So it seems like this was actually just English translation (or paraphrasing, more like) of the letters that Franklin received during this time, and actually is describing the contents of the same letter. I guess I'm just super-confused why the head of the article says November 1780... I mean I could understand if perhaps it said "15 November 1980" (as that seems to be the estimated starting range of the letters) but instead it says 26 November 1980 which was 11 days later.

Now the only thing seems to be finding the "subsequent Saturday evening" letter Pochard sent to Franklin. 17 Feb 1781 was apparently a Saturday so the subsequent one would be seven days later: 24 Feb 1781. Presumably some time in between, Franklin had also sent a reply to Pochard prompting the thanks.

https://search.amphilsoc.org/collections/view?docId=ead/Mss.B.F85inventory06-ead.xml seems to be the 2nd (though there is no "next Saturday" or "Feb 24" indication):

XLI, 140. Pochard, Abbé.

to Benjamin Franklin

[1781 After February 17] A.L.S. 1p. XLI, 140

Paris. Sending the letter which Franklin promised to forward to America with his despatches. (In French.)

General physical description: A.L.S. 1p.

Based on that summary, Pochard did not initially send the letter. First he sent a request to forward the letter and then presumably after Ben replied agreeing to forward it, he then send the letter itself in a followup with thanks to Ben for the agreement to forward.

It occurs to me that "a subsequent Saturday" could mean ANY subsequent Saturday rather than "THE IMMEDIATELY SUBSEQUENT" Saturday. Maybe that's just when they did the weekly mail-outs? In which case "after" could have been a much longer gap than "seven days". That does seem like a pretty short time for overseas mail at the time, come to think of it. I'm guessing the reason for the lack of specificity is that the letter might not have been dated. Unfortunately perhaps there is no copy of the reply Franklin sent to Pochard preceding this because Pochard's letters were not archived as well as Franklin's? WakandaQT (talk) 16:37, 4 September 2020 (UTC)