812 Page – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

Here is the translated text as follows:

Dr. Priestley exerted his influence in dispersing this very address, which he must have known was the offspring of disappointment and revenge.

The address is as cunning and insidious a production as ever appeared in the Aurora or the old Chronicle, and as for impudence, it exceeds, or at least equals, Porcupine himself. Priestley and Cooper are both called upon to deny the above narrative. A recourse to the letters themselves would establish the accuracy of this anecdote, even to a syllable.

Yes, I am the Thomas Cooper alluded to—luckily possessed of more accurate information than the malignant writer of that paragraph, from whatever source his intelligence was derived.

About the time of the appointment of commissioners under the British treaty, Doctor Ross, who had sedulously brought about an intercourse of civility between Mr. Liston and myself, urged me to permit him to apply on my behalf to that gentleman for one of the appointments that must then take place. He pressed upon me the folly, as he termed it, of my confining myself to Northumberland, his earnest wish to see me settled in Philadelphia, and the duty I owed my family to better my situation by every means in my power. He stated that Mr. Liston, he knew, thought highly of me, and though the post of the fifth commissioner was probably then disposed of, there must be an agent for the British claimants; an office which, from my situation as a barrister in England and my knowledge of mercantile transactions, I was peculiarly fitted to fill.

I replied that he probably overrated Mr. Liston’s opinion and his own influence, and that, at all events, my known political opinions must render it equally improper for Mr. Liston to give, and for me to accept, any office whatever connected with British interests. That Mr. Liston and I understood each other on this question, and had hitherto avoided all politics whatever. That, being an American, I should not object to any office under this Government if I could fairly obtain it; but that I would never consent to any application to Mr. Liston.

Through Mr. Coleman's interest, Mr. Hall of Sunbury was complimented with the offer of being appointed agent of American claims. On mentioning to Dr. Priestley one night at supper that Mr. Hall had declined it, Dr. Ross’ persuasions occurred to me, and I said that such an office as that would have suited me very well. Dr. Priestley replied that if that was the case, he thought he had some interest with Mr. Adams, with whom he had long been acquainted and who had always expressed himself in terms of the highest friendship. That, as he never intended to ask any favor of Mr. Adams for himself, I might as well let him try for once to ask one for me. On my objecting that Mr. Adams’ politics and mine were probably very different, Dr. Priestley declared that this, far from being an objection, might be an inducement in my favor; for if Mr. Adams meant to be the ruler of a nation, instead of the leader of a party, he would be glad of an opportunity to exhibit such an instance of liberal conduct. At length, I consented, expressly requesting...