Background
Benjamin Vaughan was born on April 30, 1751, in Jamaica. He was the eldest of eleven children of Samuel Vaughan, a London merchant, and Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Hallowell of Boston.
agriculturist Diplomat economist politician
Benjamin Vaughan was born on April 30, 1751, in Jamaica. He was the eldest of eleven children of Samuel Vaughan, a London merchant, and Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Hallowell of Boston.
Vaughan was sent to Newcome's school at Hackney, and then, with his brother William, was placed under the care of Joseph Priestley in the Dissenters' Academy at Warrington.
He next studied at Cambridge, though his Unitarian principles disqualified him for formal matriculation and a degree, and then proceeded to study law in the Inner Temple. In 1780-81, Vaughan studied medicine in Edinburgh, where he made friends with Adam Smith and Dugald Stewart.
During the period of the American Revolution, Vaughan engaged in propagandist activities for the Americans. Politically he was drawn to the Earl of Shelburne, who frequently employed him in confidential matters. From 1776 to 1779, he collected and edited, with Franklin's assistance, the Political, Miscellaneous and Philosophical Pieces. Written by Benj. Franklin. Vaughan's edition is particularly valuable; not only are his notes prime source material, but it "is the only edition of Franklin's writings which was printed during his lifetime and contains an 'errata' made by him for it".
Family tradition states that he turned to medicine to win his wife. Instead of practising medicine, however, Vaughan became a partner in his father-in-law's business.
Vaughan's most important work was done in connection with the Anglo-American peace negotiations of 1782. In March, when the Whigs came into power, he suggested Richard Oswald to Shelburne as a fitter person to negotiate with the Americans for "a permanent and affectionate peace" than the "bargaining" diplomats and in July was himself sent to Paris to counteract Charles James Fox's false declaration that the government was insincere. Vaughan was uniquely fitted for this mission; he knew Shelburne intimately, was a close friend of Franklin, and was connected with Henry Laurens by marriage.
In September, John Jay prevailed upon him to return to London as a counteragent to Rayneval, whom Jay believed to be sacrificing American to French and Spanish interests. Vaughan's services in promoting confidence between the American commissioners and Shelburne and in reconciling conflicting opinions were valuable, but the unofficial nature and the delicacy of these services precluded any answer to Fox's charges of "a secret agent" and double dealing. During the next decade Vaughan was busily occupied with political matters and the doctrine of free trade.
In 1789, he published A Treatise on International Trade. He was ardently sympathetic with the French Revolution and contributed to the Morning Chronicle, under the nom-de-plume of "A Calm Observer, " a series of letters on the dangers of the Russo-Prusso-Austrian alliance. These appeared in book form as Letters on the Subject of the Concert of Princes and the Dismemberment of Poland and France (London, 1793).
In 1792, he entered Parliament for Calne, but apparently spoke only on Wilberforce's annual bills for the abolition of the slave trade. His English career was abruptly terminated by his flight to France in consequence of an investigation by the Cabinet of the activities of Revolutionary enthusiasts in England. In Paris, he was imprisoned at the Carmelite Monastery, but owing, probably, to the good offices of Robespierre, he was released after a month and retired to Switzerland.
In 1796, he followed his family and brothers, one of whom was Charles Vaughan, to America and settled on the family lands at Hallowell, Me. He retired from active politics, but corresponded with the first six Presidents and in 1828 forwarded to John Quincy Adams copies of his papers relative to the definition of the Maine boundary in 1782-83.
Vaughan published a second collection of Franklin's works in London, 1793, and assisted Marshall in the 1806 edition. In 1800, he produced The Rural Socrates or an Account of a Celebrated Philosophical Farmer Lately Living in Switzerland and Known by the Name of Kliyogg, an enlarged and emended edition of Arthur Young's translation of the work of Hans Kaspar Hirzel.
Letters to his brother, John Vaughan, were read before the American Philosophical Society in 1825, and published under the title "On the Grous of North America, " in Early Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 1744 to 1838 (1884). The copy in the Huntington Library of An Abridgement of the Second Edition of a Work, Written by Dr. Currie, of Liverpool in England, on the Use of Water in Diseases of the Human Frame with Occasional Remarks (Augusta, 1799), bears a manuscript note on the title-page, "By Benjamin Vaughan. " Vaughan was extraordinarily modest.
Vaughan was a loved member of the group of radicals associated with Priestley, John Horne Tooke, Bentham, Romilly, and Dumont. John Adams even confided to him in 1783 his suspicions of Franklin's Gallophilism. He corresponded with Talleyrand and Robespierre and was invited to attend the First Constitutional Assembly.
Though a Federalist, he maintained a cordial correspondence with Jefferson.
Vaughan never published anything under his own name and consequently much of his work remains unidentified. One of his striking traits was his genius for friendship. He knew and corresponded with most of the eminent liberal thinkers of his time.
Franklin undertook his autobiography at Vaughan's and Abel James's solicitation. Vaughan's wife died in 1834, and his own death occurred in Hallowell the year following.
Vaughan married Sarah Manning on June 30, 1781, the daughter of William Manning, a prominent London merchant. They had three sons and four daughters.