Editing Benjamin Franklin (section)

===Return to London and Travels in Europe===
From the mid-1750s to the mid-1770s, Franklin returned to England and spent much of his time in London.<ref>{{cite web |title=Franklin & the House |url=https://benjaminfranklinhouse.org/the-house-benjamin-franklin/ |website=Benjamin Franklin House |access-date=8 November 2024}}</ref>, using the city as a base from which to travel. In 1771, he made short journeys through different parts of England, staying with [[Joseph Priestley]] at [[Leeds]], [[Thomas Percival]] at [[Manchester]] and [[Erasmus Darwin]] at [[Lichfield]].<ref name="sparks">{{Cite web|title=Biography of Benjamin Franklin|url=https://www.ushistory.org/franklin/biography/chap05.htm|access-date=December 30, 2022|website=www.ushistory.org}}</ref> In Scotland, he spent five days with [[Henry Home, Lord Kames|Lord Kames]] near [[Stirling]] and stayed for three weeks with [[David Hume]] in Edinburgh. In 1759, he visited Edinburgh with his son and later reported that he considered his six weeks in Scotland "six weeks of the densest happiness I have met with in any part of my life."<ref name="Buchan 2003 p. 2">{{cite book | last=Buchan | first=James | title=Crowded with Genius | publisher=Harper | date=November 25, 2003 | isbn=0-06-055888-1 | page=2}}</ref>

In Ireland, he stayed with [[Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire|Lord Hillsborough]]. Franklin noted of him that "all the plausible behaviour I have described is meant only, by patting and stroking the horse, to make him more patient, while the reins are drawn tighter, and the spurs set deeper into his sides."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gIAxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR21|title=Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin|editor=Nathan Haskell Dole|year=2003|publisher=Kessinger |access-date=September 21, 2009|isbn=978-0-7661-4375-3}}</ref> In [[Dublin]], Franklin was invited to sit with the members of the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] rather than in the gallery. He was the first American to receive this honor.<ref name="sparks" /> While touring Ireland, he was deeply moved by the level of poverty he witnessed. The [[Ireland#Economy|economy]] of the [[Kingdom of Ireland]] was affected by the same trade regulations and laws that governed the Thirteen Colonies. He feared that the American colonies could eventually come to the same level of poverty if the regulations and laws continued to apply to them.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|title=Benjamin Franklin {{pipe}} Ken Burns {{pipe}} PBS {{pipe}} Watch Benjamin Franklin: A Ken Burns Film {{pipe}} Full Documentary Now Streaming {{pipe}} PBS|url=https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/benjamin-franklin/|access-date=December 30, 2022|website= PBS|language=en}}</ref>

Franklin spent two months in German lands in 1766, but his connections to the country stretched across a lifetime. He declared a debt of gratitude to German scientist [[Otto von Guericke]] for his early studies of electricity. Franklin also co-authored the first [[Treaty of Amity and Commerce (Prussia–United States)|treaty of friendship]] between Prussia and America in 1785.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Avalon Project: Treaty of Amity and Commerce between His Majesty the King of Prussia, and the United States of America|url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/prus1785.asp|access-date=December 30, 2022|website=avalon.law.yale.edu}}</ref> In September 1767, he visited Paris with his usual traveling partner, [[Sir John Pringle, 1st Baronet]]. News of his electrical discoveries was widespread in France. His reputation meant that he was introduced to many influential scientists and politicians, and also to King [[Louis XV]].{{sfn|Isaacson|2003|p={{page needed|date=April 2025}}}}