After Board of Trade rejects land company plans, April 29, appeals to Privy Council on June 5, which approves the grant on July 1, but territory is never officially conveyed. Has come to believe that slavery is inherently evil and unjust (1758 will provided for manumission of two slaves he owned, and he evidently freed them sometime during 1760s); first writes against the institution of slavery in "The Sommersett Case and the Slave Trade," June 20. Elected foreign associate of Academie Royale des Sciences, Paris, August 16. October, Mrs. Stevenson moves to No. 10 Craven Street, and Franklin moves with her. Clandestinely obtains correspondence of Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson and Lieutenant Governor Andrew Oliver with English authorities, finds that it advocates repressive measures, and sends it to Massachusetts Speaker Thomas Cushing.