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BOSTON,

THE
WORKS OF
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN;
CONTAINING
SEVERAL POLITICAL AND HISTORICAL TRACTS
NOT INCLUDED IN ANY FORMER EDITION
AND
MANY LETTERS OFFICIAL AND PRIVATE
NOT HITHERTO PUBLISHED -
TVITH
NOTES AND
A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.

Bt JARED SPARKS

VOLUME IV.

BOSTON:
WHITTEMORE, NILES, AND HALL.
MILWAUKIE: A. "WHITTEMORE & CO.
1856.

Entered according to the act of Congiess, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and tMrty-seven, by Hilliabd, Gray, and Co., in the Clerk's
Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

ANDOVER:
PKINTED BT 'W . T. DKAPEK

CONTENTS

OF

VOLUME FOURTH

ESSAYS AND TRACTS, HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL,
BEFORE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
(continued.) Pago
The Interest of Great Britain considered, with Regard to
her Colonies and the Acquisitions of Canada and
Guadaloupe  1
A Narrative of the late Massacres, in Lancaster County,
of a Number of Indians, Friends .of this Provmce,
by Persons unknown. With some Observations on
the same  54
Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of our Public
Affairs  78
Petition to the King, for Changing the Proprietary Gov
emment of Pennsylvania into a Royal Government 93
Remarks on a Particular Militia Bill rejected by the Pro
prietor's Deputy, or Govemor  95
Preface to the Speech of Joseph Galloway, on the Subject
of a Petition to the King for Changing the Pro
prietary Govemment of Pennsylvania to a Royal
Govemment  101
Remarks on a Late Protest against the Appointment of
Mr. Franklin as Agent for the Provmce of Penn
sylvania  143

viii CONTENTS.
Letter conceming the Gratitude of America, and the Prob
ability and Effects of a Union with Great Britain ;
and concerning the Repeal or Suspension of the
Stamp Act  156
*rhe Examination of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, in the British
House of Commons, relative to the Repeal of the
American Stamp Act, in 1766  161
Note containing Dr. Franklin's Remarks on the above
Examination, with Reference to the Members of
the House of Commons by whom the Questions
were asked  199
Remarks on a Plan for the Future Management of Indian
Affairs  201
Hints for a Reply to the Protests of certain Members
of the House of Lords against the Repeal of the
Stamp Act  206
Observations on Passages in a Pamphlet, entitled " Good
Humor, or a Way with the Colonies. London,
1766"  211
Observations on Passages in " A Letter from a Merchant
in London to his Nephew in North America. Lon
don, 1766"  215
Proposed Colony in Illinois  233
Causes of the American Discontents before 1768 . . 242
Preface to the " Lettei-s from a Farmer in Pennsylvania" 256
(Queries by Mr. Strahan, respecting American Affairs, and
Dr. Franklin's Answers  258
State of the Constitution of the Colonies, by Governor
Pownall ; with Remarks by Dr. Franklin . . 270
Observations on Passages in " An Inquiry into the Nature
and Causes of the Disputes between the British
Colonies in America and their Mother Country.
London, 1769"  281
Observations on Passages in a Pamphlet, entitled " The
Tme Constitutional Means for putting an End to
the Disputes between Great Britain and the Amer
ican Colonies. London, 1769" .... 298

CONTENTS. IX
Settlement on the Ohio River  302
Appendix, No. I. By the King. A Proclamation 374
No. II. State of the King's Rents in
North America . . . 380
Preface, by the British Editor, to " The Votes and Pro
ceedings of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants
of the Town of Boston "  381
Rules for Reducing a Great Erapire to a Small One ; pre
sented to a late Minister, when he entered upon
his Administration  387
An Edict by the King of Prussia  399
An Account of the Transactions relating to Governor
Hutchinson's Letters  405
Note by the Editor, containing other Partlculajs re
specting Hutchinson's Letters . . . .441
Emblematical Representation  456
On a Proposed Act of Parliament for Preventing Emi
gration  458
A Tme State of the Proceedings in the Parliament of
Great Britain, and in the Province of Massachu
setts Bay, relative to the Giving and Granting the
Money of the People of that Province, and all
America, in the House of Commons, In which they
are not represented  466
Letters to Dean Tucker . . . . '. . . 516
On the Rise and Progress of the Differences between
Great Britain and her American Colonies . . 526

ESSAYS AND TRACTS
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL,

BEFORE

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
(C ONTINUED.)

THE
INTEREST OF GREAT BRITAIN CONSIDERED,
WITH REGARD TO HER COLONIES
AND THE ACQUISITIONS OF
CANADA AND GUADALOUPE.

This pamphlet was first published anonymously in London, in
the year 1760. At that time the war with France was about
coming to a close, and the politicians were fruitful in their specu
lations on the terms of peace, particularly after Canada had fallen
into the hands of the British, by the brilliant victory of Wolfe at
Quebec. It was a question much discussed, whether Canada
should be retained, or whether it should be given back to the
French as a set-off for acquisitions in the West Indies. The
controversy was carried on with warmth, and the public attention
was attracted to it, not more from the importance of the subject,
than from the ability of the writers enlisted on each side.
The Earl of Bath vn-ote and published a Letter to Two Great
Men, (Mr. Pitt and the Duke of Newcastle,) in which he ad
vanced reasons for keeping Canada, as more valuable to England
than any West India possessions, that could be obtained as an
equivalent. Shortly afterwards appeared " iZemarZrs on the Lettei:
to Two Great Men," without a name, but ascribed by some to
Edmund Burke, and by others to William Burke. The author
took the opposite ground, preferring Guadaloupe to Canada, and
maintaining his position with much display of political knowledge
and ingenious argument.
At this stage of the controversy, Franklin entered the lists, and
sent out the following tract, in which he comments upon these two
performances, and applies himself particularly to expose the falla
cies and confute the arguments of the Remarker. This task was
so successfully executed, and his views were enforced by such
clearness of illustration and cogency of reasoning, that the pam
phlet was believed to have had great weight in the ministerial
VOL. IV. 1 AV^

2 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
councils, and to have been mainly instrumental in causing Canada
to be held at the peace.
The arguments were ably met, however, in a subsequent pam
phlet entitled, " An Examination of the Commercial Principles of
the late Negotiation between Great Britain and France in 1761,"
supposed likewise to have been written by Mr. Burke ; and the
style of its execution might well have justified such a conjecture, if
there had not been other grounds for the belief. The same doc
trines are advanced, as in the " Remarks." The writer puts forth
his chief strength to confute the following pamphlet ; and the esti
mation, in which he held the author of it, may be inferred from his
manner of introducing the subject. After stating that he should
confine his remarks to the writer of this performance, he adds as a
reason, because, of all those, who had treated the opposite side of
the question, " he is clearly the ablest, the most ingenious, the most
dexterous, and the most perfectly acquainted with the fort and foible
of the argument ; and we may therefore conclude, that he has said
every thing, and every thing in the best manner, that the cause
could bear." This was high praise to come from an opponent, who,
if he hoped to triumph, was fully aware of the arduous nature of
his undertaking. In fact he failed ; for he could not convince the
public, nor the ministry, that Guadaloupe was better for England
than Canada ; nor could his zeal and eloquence avail to divert the
negotiation from its first channel. — Editor.

I HAVE perused, with no small pleasure, the Let
ter addressed to Two Gh-eat Men, and the Remarks
on that letter. It is not merely from the beauty,
the force, and perspicuity of expression, or the general
elegance of manner, conspicuous in both pamphlets,
that my pleasure chiefly arises ; it is rather from this,
that I have hved to see subjects of the greatest im
portance to this nation publicly discussed without party
views or party heat, with decency and politeness, and
with no other warmth, than what a zeal for the honor
and happiness of our King and country may inspire ;
and this by writers, whose understandmg, however they

CANADA PAMPHLET. 3
may differ from each other, appears not unequal to their
candor and the uprightness of their intention.
But, as great abilities have not always the best in
formation, there are, I apprehend, in the Remarks, some
opinions not well founded, and some mistakes of so
important a nature, as to render a few observations
on them necessary for the better information of the
public. The author of the Letter, who must be every way
best able to support his own sentiments, will, I hope,
excuse me, if I seem officiously to interfere ; when he
considers, that the spirit of patriotism, like other quali
ties good and bad, is catching, and that his long si
lence, since the Remarks appeared, has made us
despair of seeing the subject farther discussed by his
masterly hand. The ingenious and candid Remarker,
too, who must have been misled himself, before he
employed his skill and address to mislead others, will
certainly, since he declares he aim,s at no seduction, be
disposed to excuse even the weakest effort to pre
vent it.
And surely, if the general opinions that possess
the minds of the people may possibly be of conse
quence in public affairs, it must be fit to set those
opinions right. If there is danger, as the Remarker
supposes, that "extravagant expectations" may em
barrass "a virtuous and able ministry," and "render
the negotiation for peace a work of mfinite difficulty," *
there is no less danger, that expectations too low,
through want of proper information, may have a con
trary effect ; may make even a virtuous and able min
istry less anxious, and less attentive to the obtaming
points, in wliich the honor and interest of the nation
* Remarks, p. 6.

4 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
are essentiaUy concerned ; and the people less hearty
in supporting such a ministry and its measures.
The people of this nation are indeed respectable, not
for their numbers only, but for their understanding and
their pubhc spirit. They manifest the first by their
universal approbation of the late prudent and vigorous
measures, and the confidence they so justly repose in a
wise and good prince, and an honest and able admin
istration ; the latter they have demonstrated by the
immense supphes granted in ParUament unanimously,
and paid through the whole kingdom with cheerfulness.
And, since to this spirit and these suppUes our " victo
ries and successes " * have in great measure been
owing, is it quite right, is it generous to say, with the
Remarker, that the people " had no share in acquiring
them?" The mere mob he cannot mean, even where
he speaks of the madness of the people ; for the mad
ness of the mob must be too feeble and impotent,
armed as the government of this country at present is,
to "overrule,"! even in the sUghtest instances, the
virtue "and moderation" of a firm and steady min
istry. While the war continues, its final event is quite un
certain. The victorious of this year may be the van
quished of the next. It may therefore be too early to
say, what advantages we ought absolutely to msist on,
and make the sine quibus non of a peace. If the ne
cessity of our affairs should obUge us to accept of terms
less advantageous than our present successes seem to
promise us, an inteUigent people, as ours is, must see
that necessity, and wiU acquiesce. But as a peace,
when it is made, may be made hastily ; and as the
unhappy continuance of the war affords us tune to con-

* Remarks, p. 7. f Ibid. p. 7.

CANADA PAMPHLET. 5
sider, among several advantages gained or to be gained,
which of them may be most for our interest to retain,
if some and not aU may possibly be retained ; I do not
blame the pubhc disquisition of these points, as prema
ture or useless. Light often arises from a coUision' of
opmions, as fire from flint and steel; and if we can
obtain the benefit of the light, without danger from the
heat sometimes produced by controversy, why should
we discourage it?
Supposing then, that Heaven may stiU continue to
bless his Majesty's arms, and that the event of this just
war may put it in our power to retain some of our
conquests at the making of a peace ; let us consider,
\. The Security qf a Dominion, a justifiable and pru
dent Gh'ound upon which to demand Cessions from an
Enemy. Whether we are to confine ourselves to those pos
sessions only, that were "the objects for which we
began the war." * This the Remarker seems to thmk
right, when the question relates to " Canada, properly
so called; it having never been mentioned as one of
those objects, in any of our memorials or declarations,
or in any national or public act whatsoever." But the
gentleman himself wiU probably agree, that if the ces
sion of Canada would be a real advantage to us, we
may demand it under his second head, as an " indem
nification for the charges incurred " in recovering our
just rights ; otherwise, according to his own principles,
the demand of Guadaloupe can have no foundation.
That " our claims before the war were large enough for
possession and for security too,"t though it seems a
clear point with the ingenious Remarker, is, I own, not

* Remarks, p. 19. f Ibid. p. 19.
A *

6 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
so with me. I am rather of the contrary opinion, and
shaU presently give my reasons.
But first let me observe, that we did not make those
claims because they were large enough for security,
but because we could rightfuUy claun no more. Ad
vantages gained in the course of this war may increase
the extent of our rights. Our claims before the war
contained some security ; but that is no reason why we
should neglect acquirmg more, when the demand of
• more is become reasonable. It may be reasonable in
the case of America, to ask for the security recom
mended by the author of the Letter,* though it would
be preposterous to do it in many cases. His proposed
demand is founded on the little value of Canada to the
French ; the right we have to ask, and the power we
may have to insist on an indemnification for our ex
penses ; the difficulty the French themselves wiU be
under of restraining their restless subjects in America
from encroaching on our Umits and disturbmg our
trade ; and the difficulty on our part of preventing en
croachments, that may possibly exist many years with
out coming to our knowledge.
But the Remarker " does not see why the arguments,
employed concerning a security for a peaceable beha
viour in Canada, would not be equally cogent for call
ing for the same security in Europe."! On a Uttle
farther reflection, he must, I think, be sensible, that the
circumstances of the two cases are widely different.
Here we are separated by the best and clearest of
boundaries, the ocean, and we have people in or near
every part of our territory. Any attempt to encroach
upon us, by buildmg a fort, even in the obscurest cor-
• Page 30 of the Letter, and p. 21 of the Remarks.
I Remarks, p. 28.

CANADA PAMPHLET. 7
ner of these Islands, must therefore be known and
prevented immediately. The aggressors also must be
known, and the nation they belong to would be ac
countable for their aggression. In America it is quite
otherwise. A vast wilderness, thinly or scarce at all
peopled, conceals with ease the march of troops and
workmen. Important passes may be seized within our
limits, and forts built in a month, at a smaU expense,
that may cost us an age and a million to remove.
Dear experience has taught this. But what is stUl
worse, the wide-extended forests between our settle
ments and theirs are inhabited by barbarous tribes of
savages, that deUght in war, and take pride in murder ;
subjects properly neither of the French nor EngUsh,
but strongly attached to the former by the art and in
defatigable industry of priests, similarity of superstitions,
and frequent family alliances. These are easUy, and
have been continually, instigated to* faU upon and mas
sacre our planters, even in times of fuU peace between
the two crowns, to the certain diminution of our peo
ple and the contraction of our settlements.* And,
* A very intelligent American writer, Dr. Clarke, in his Ohservations on
the late and present Conduct of the French, Ifc. printed at Boston, 1755,
says, " The Indians in the French interest are, upon all proper opportuni
ties, instigated by their priests (who have generally the chief manage
ment of their public councils) to acts of hostility against the English,
even in time of profound peace between the two crowns. Of this there
are many undeniable instances. The war between the Indians and the
cAonies of the Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, in 1723, by
which those colonies suffered so much damage, was begun by the insti
gation of the French ; their supplies were from them ; and there are
now original letters of several Jesuits to be produced, whereby it evi
dently appears, that they were continually animating the Indians, when
alraost tired with the war, to a farther prosecution of it. The French
not only excited the Indians, and supported them, but joined' their own
forces with them in all the late hostilities, that have been committed with
in his Majesty's province of Nova Scotia. And from an intercepited

8 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
though it is known they are supplied by the French,
and carry their prisoners to them, we can, by c.implain-
ing, obtain no redress, as the governors of Canada have
a ready excuse, that the Indians are an independent
people, over whom they have no power, and for whose
actions they are, therefore, not accountable. Surely
circumstances so widely different may reasonably au
thorize different demands of security in America, fi-om
such as are usual or necessary in Europe.
The Remarker however thinks, that our real depen
dence for keeping "France or any other nation true
to her engagements must not be in demanding secu
rities, which no nation whUst independent can give, but
on our own strength and our own vigilance." * No
nation that has carried on a war with disadvantage, and
is unable to continue it, can be said under such circum
stances to be independent ; and, whUe either side thinks
itself in a condition to demand an indemnification, there
is no man in his senses, but will, cceteris 'paribus, prefer
an indemnification, that is a cheaper and more effectual
security than any other he can think of. Nations in
this situation demand and cede countries by almost
every treaty of peace that is made. The French part
letter this year from the Jesuits at Penobscot, and from other informa
tion, it is certain, that they have been using their utmost endeavours to
excite the Indians to new acts of hostility against his Majesty's colony
of the Massachusetts Bay ; and some have been committed. The French
not only excite the Indians to acts of hostility, but reward them for it
by buying the English prisoners of them ; for the ransom of each of which
they afterwards demand of us the price, that is usually given for a
slave in these colonies. They do this under the specious pretence of
rescuing the poor prisoners from the cruelties and barbarities of the sav
ages ; but in reality to encourage them to continue their depredations,
as they can by this means get more by hunting the English, than by
hunting wild beasts ; and the French, at the same time, are thereby en
abled to keep up a large body of Indians, entirely at the expense of the
English." * Remarks, p. 25.

CANADA PAMPHLET. 9
of the island of St. Christopher's was added to Great
Britain in circumstances altogether similar to those, in
which a few months may probably place the country of
Canada. Farther security has always been deemed a
motive with a conqueror to be less moderate; and
even the vanquished insist upon security as a reason for
demanding what they acknowledge they could not
otherwise properly ask.
The security of the frontier of France on the side
of the JVetherlands was always considered in the ne
gotiation, that began at Gertrudenberg and ended with
that war. For the same reason they demanded and
had Cape Breton. But a war, concluded to the ad
vantage of France, has always added something to
the power, either of France or the House of Bour
bon. Even that of 1733, which she commenced with
declarations of her having no ambitious views, and
which finished by a treaty at which the ministers of
France repeatedly declared, that she desired nothing
for herself, in effect gained for her Lorraine, an in
demnification ten times the value of all her North
American possessions.
In shortj security and quiet of princes and states
have ever been deemed sufficient reasons, when sup
ported by power, for disposing of rights; and such
dispositions have never been looked on as want of
moderation. It has always been the foundation of the
most general treaties. The security of Germany was
the argument for yielding considerable possessions
there to the Swedes ; and the security of Europe di
vided the Spanish monarchy by the partition treaty,
made between powers who had no other right to dis
pose of any part of it. There can be no cession, that
is not supposed at least to increase the power of the
party to whom it is made. It is enough that he has a
VOL. IV. 2

10 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
right to ask it, and that he does it not merely to
serve the purposes of a dangerous ambition.
Canada, in the hands of Britain, wiU endanger the
kingdom of France as little as any other cession; and
from its situation and circumstances cannot be hurtful
to any other state. Rather, if peace be an advantage,
this cession may be such to aU Europe. The present
war teaches us, that disputes arising in America may
be an occasion of embroiling nations, who have no
concerns there. If the French remain in Canada and
Louisiana, fix the boundaries as you wiU between us
and them, we must border on each other for more than
fifteen hundred miles. The people that inhabit the
frontiers are generaUy the refuse of both nations, often
of the worst morals and the least discretion; remote
from the eye, the prudence, and the restraint of gov
ernment. Injuries are therefore frequently, in some
part or other of so long a frontier, committed on both
sides, resentment provoked, the colonies are first en
gaged, and then the mother countries. And two great
nations can scarce be at war in Europe, but some other
prince or state thinks it a convenient opportunity to
revive some ancient claim, seize some advantage, ob
tain some territory, or enlarge some power at the ex
pense of a neighbour. The flames of war, once kin
dled, often spread far and wide, and the mischief is
infinite. Happy it proved to both nations, that the
Dutch were prevailed on finally to cede the New
Netherlands (now the provmce of New York) to us at
the peace of 1674; a peace that has ever since con
tinued between us, but must have been frequently
disturbed, if they had retamed the possession of that
country, bordering several hundred miles on our colo
nies of Pennsylvania westward, Connecticut and the
Massachusetts eastward. Nor is it to b.e wondered at,

CANADA PAMPHLET. 11
that people of different language, reUgion, and manners,
should in those remote parts engage in frequent quar
rels ; when we find, that even the people of our own
colonies have frequently been so exasperated against
each other, in their disputes about boundaries, as to
proceed to open violence and bloodshed.
2. Erecting Forts in the back Settlements, almost in no
Instance a sufiicient Security against the Indians and
the French; but the Possession of Canada implies
every Security, and ought to be had, while in our
Power. But the Remarker thinks we shaU be sufficiently se
cure in America, if we " raise EngUsh forts at such passes
as may at once make us respectable to the French
and to the Indian nations."* The security desirable
in America may be considered as of three kinds. 1. A
security of possession, that the French shaU not drive
us out of the country. 2. A security of our planters
from the inroads of savages, and the murders com
mitted by them. 3. A security that the British nation
shaU not be obUged, on every new war, to repeat the
immense expense occasioned by this, to defend its
possessions in America.
Forts in the most important passes may, I acknowl
edge, be of use to obtain the first kind of security;
but, as those situations are far advanced beyond the
inhabitants, the expense of maintaining and supplying
the garrisons wiU be very great, even in time of full
peace, and immense on every interruption of it ; as it
is easy for skulking parties of the enemy, in such long
roads through the woods, to intercept and cut off our
convoys, unless guarded continuaUy by great bodies
of men. * Remarks, p. 25.

12 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
The second kind of security will not be obtained by
such forts, unless they were connected by a waU like
that of China, from one end of our settlements to the
other. If the Indians, when at war, marched like the
Europeans, with great armies, heavy cannon, baggage,
and carriages; the passes through which alone such
armies could penetrate our country, or receive their
supplies, being secured, all might be sufficiently se
cure. But the case is widely different; they go to
war, as they call it, in smaU parties ; from fifty men
down to five. Their hunting life has made them ac
quainted with the whole country, and scarce any part
of it is impracticable to such a party. They can travel
through the woods even by night, and know how to
conceal their tracks. They pass easily between your
forts undiscovered; and privately approach the settle
ments of your frontier inhabitants. They need no
convoys of provisions to follow them ; for whether they
are shifting from place to place in the woods, or lying
in wait for an opportunity to strike a blow, every thicket
and every stream furnishes so smaU a number with
sufficient subsistence. When they have surprised sep
arately, and murdered and scalped a dozen famiUes,
they are gone with inconceivable expedition through
unknown ways ; and it is very rare that pursuers have
any chance of coming up with them.* In short, long
* " Altiiough the Indians live scattered, as a hunter's life requires,
they may be collected togetiier from almost any distance ; as they can
find their subsistence from their gun in their ti-avelling. But, let the
number of the Indians be what it will, tliey are not formidable merely
on account of their numbers ; there are many other circumstances that
give them a great advantage over the English. The English inhabitants,
though numerous, are extended over a large tract of land, five hundred
leagues in length on the sea shore ; and, altliough some of tiieir trading
towns are tliick settled, their settlements in the country towns must be at
a distance from each other ; besides tliat in a new country, where landa
are cheap, people ore fond of acquiring large tracts to tliemselves j and

CANADA PAMPHLET. 13
experience has taught our planters, that they cannot
rely upon forts as a security agamst Indians ; the inhab
itants of Hackney might as weU rely upon the tower of
London, to secure them against highwaymen and
housebrealcers. As to the third kind of security, that we shaU not, in
a few years, have all we have done to do over again
in America, and be obliged to employ the same number
of troops and ships, at the same immense expense, to
defend our possessions there, while we are in proportion

therefore, in the out settlements, they must be more remote ; and, as the
people that move out are generally poor, they sit down either where
they can easiest procure land, or soonest raise a subsistence. Add to
this, that the English have fixed, settled habitations, the easiest and short
est passage to which the Indians, by constantly hunting in the woods, are
perfectly well acquainted with ; whereas the English know little or
nothing of the Indian country, or of the passages through the woods
that lead to it. The Indian way of making war is by sudden attack upon
exposed places ; and as soon as they have done mischief they retire, and
either go home by the same or some different route, as they think safest,
or go to some other place at a distance, to renew their stroke. If a
sufficient party should happily be ready to pursue them, it is a great
chance, whether in a country consisting of woods and swamps, which the
English are not acquainted with, the enemy do not lie in ambush for them
in some convenient place, and from thence destroy them. If this should
not be the case, but the English should pursue them, as soon as they
have gained the rivers, by means of their canoes (to the use of which
they are brought up fi-om their infancy) they presently get out of their
reach. Further, if a body of men were to march into their country, to
the place where they are settled, they can, upon the least notice, without
great disadvantage, quit their present habitations, and betake themselves
to new ones." — Ciarke's Observations, p. 13.
" It has been already remarked, that the tribes of the Indians, living
upon the lakes and rivers that run upon the back of the English settle
ments in North America, are very nuraerous, and can furnish a great
number of fighting men, all perfectly well acquainted with the use of
arms as soon as capable of carrying them, as they get the whole of their
subsistence from hunting ; and that this army, large as it may be, can be
maintained by the French without any expense. From their numbers,
their situation, and the rivers that run into the English settlements, it is
easy to conceive, that they can at any time make an attack upon, and
constantly annoy, as many of the exposed English settlements as they
VOL. IV. B

14 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
weakened here; such forts, I think, cannot prevent this.
During a peace, it is not to be doubted the French, who
are adroit at fortifying, wiU lUcewise erect forts m the
most advantageous places of the country we leave
them ; which wiU make it more difficult than ever to be
reduced in case of another war. We know, by experi
ence of this war, how extremely difficult it is to march
an army through the American woods, with its neces
sary cannon and stores, sufficient to reduce a very
slight fort. The accounts at the treasury wUl teU you
what amazing sums we have necessarily spent in the
expeditions against two very trifling forts, Duquesne
and Crown Point. While the French retain their in
fluence over the Indians, they can easUy keep our long-
extended frontier in continual alarm, by a very few of
those people ; and, with a smaU number of regulars and
miUtia, in such a country, we find they can keep an
army of ours in full employ for several years. We
therefore shaU not need to be told by our colonies, that,
if we leave Canada, however circumscribed, to the
French, "we have done nothing";* we shaU soon be
made sensible ourselves of this truth, and to our cost.
please, and those at any distance firom each other. The effects of such
incursions have been too severely felt by many of the British colomes, not
to be very well known. The entire breaking up places, that had been for
a considerable time settled at a great expense both of labor and money ;
burning the houses, destroying the flock, killing and making prisoners
great numbers of the inhabitants, with all the cruel usage they meet with
in their captivity, is only a part of the scene. All other places, that are
exposed, are kept in continual terror ; the lands lie waste and unculti
vated, from the danger that attends those that shall presume to work upon
them ; besides the immense charge the governments must be at in a very
uneffectual manner to defend their extended firontiers ; and aU this firom
the influence tlie French have had over, but comparatively, a few of the
Indians. To the same or greater evils stUl will every one of the colonies
be exposed, whenever the same influence shall be extended to the whole
body of them." — iitU p. 20.
* Remarks, p. 2G.

CANADA PAMPHLET. 15
I would not be understood to deny, that, even if we
subdue and take Canada, some few forts may be of
use to secure the goods of the traders, and protect the
commerce, in case of any sudden misunderstanding
with any tribe of Indians ; but these forts wUl be best
under the care of the colonies interested in the Indian
trade, and garrisoned by their provincial forces, and at
their own expense. Their own interest wUl then in
duce the American governments to take care of such
forts in proportion to their importance, and see that the
officers keep their corps full, and mind their duty. But
any troops of ours placed there, and accountable here,
would, in such remote and obscure places, and at so
great a distance from the eye and inspection of supe
riors, soon become of Uttle consequence, even though
the French were left in possession of Canada. If the
four independent companies, maintained by the crown
in New York more than forty years, at a great expense,
consisted, for most part of the time, of faggots chiefly ;
if their officers enjoyed their places as sinecures, and
were only, as a writer * of that country styles them, a
kind of mUitary monks ; if this was the state of troops
posted in a populous country, where the imposition
could not be so weU concealed ; what may we expect
wUl be the case of those, that shaU be posted two,
three, or four hundred mUes from the inhabitants, in
such obscure and remote places as Crown Point, Os
wego, Duquesne, or Niagara ? They would scarce be
even faggots ; they would dwindle to mere names up
on paper, and appear nowhere but upon the muster-
roUs. Now aU the kinds of security we have mentioned
are obtamed by subduing and retaining Canada. Our
* Douglass.

16 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
present possessions in America are secured ; our plan
ters wiU no longer be massacred by the Indians, who,
depending absolutely on us for what are now become
the necessaries of life to them (guns, powder, hatchets,
knives, and clothing), and having no other Europeans
near, that can either supply them, or instigate them
against us ; there is no doubt of their being always
disposed, if we treat them with common justice, to live
in perpetual peace with us. And, with regard to France,
she cannot, in case of another war, put us to the im
mense expense of defendmg that long-extended fron
tier ; we shaU then, as it were, have our backs against a
wall in America ; the sea-coast wiU be easUy protected
by our superior naval power; and here "our own
watchfulness and our own strength " wiU be properly,
and cannot but be successfully, employed. In this situ
ation, the force now employed in that part of the world
may be spared for any other service here or elsewhere ;
so that both the offensive and defensive strength of the
British empire, on the whole, wiU be greatly increased.
But to leave the French in possession of Canada,
when it is in our power to remove them, and depend
(as the Remarker proposes) on our own " strength and
watchfulness"* to prevent the mischiefs that may at
tend it, seems neither safe nor prudent. Happy as we
now are, under the best of kings, and in the prospect of
a succession promising every feUcity a nation was ever
blessed with ; happy too in the wisdom and vigor of
every part of the administration ; we cannot, we ought
not to promise ourselves the uninterrupted continuance
of those blessings. The safety of a considerable part
of the state, and the interest of the whole, are not to
be trusted to the wisdom and vigor of future adminis-
* Remarks, p. 25.

CANADA PAMPHLET. 17
tr ations ; when a security is to be had more effectual,
more constant, and much less expensive. They, who
can be moved by the apprehension of dangers so re
mote, as that of the future independence of our colonies
(a point I shaU hereafter consider), seem scarcely con
sistent with themselves, when' they suppose we may
rely on the wisdom and vigor of an administration for
their safety. I should indeed thmk it less material
whether Canada were ceded to us or not, if I had in
view only the security of possession in our colonies. I
entirely agree with the Remarker, that we are in North
America "a far greater continental as weU as naval
power," and that only cowardice or ignorance can sub
ject our colonies there to a French conquest. But, for
the same reason, I disagree with him widely upon an
other point.
3. The Blood and Treasure spent in the .American
Wars, not spent in the Cause of the Colonies alone.
I do not think, that our " blood and treasure has
been expended," as he intimates, " in the cause of the
colonies," and that • we are, " making conquests for
them ; " * yet I beUeve this is too common an error. I
do not say, they are altogether unconcerned in the
event. The inhabitants of them are, in common with
the other subjects of Great Britain, anxious for the glory
of her crown, the extent of her power and commerce,
the welfare and future repose of the whole British peo
ple. They could npt, therefore, but take a large share
in the affronts offered to Britain ; and have been ani
mated with a truly British spirit to exert themselves
beyond their strength, and against their evident interest.
Yet so unfortunate have thgy been, that their virtue has
* Remarks, p. 25.
VOL. IV. 3 B*

18 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
made against them ; for upon no better foundation than
this have they been supposed the authors of a war,
carried on for their advantage only.
It is a great mistake to imagine, that the American
country in question between Great Britain and France
is claimed as the property of any individual or public
body in Jmerica ; or that the possession of it by Great
Britain is likely, in any lucrative view, to redound at all
to the advantage of any person there. On the other
hand, the bulk of the inhabitants of North America are
land-owners, whose lands are inferior in value to those
of Britain, only by the want of an equal number of
people. It is true, the accession of the large territory
claimed before the war began (especially if that be
secured by the possession of Canada) wUl tend to the
increase of the British subjects, faster than if they had
been confined within the mountains ; yet the increase
within the mountains only would evidently make the
comparative population equal to that of Great Britain
much sooner than it can be expected, when our people
are spread over a country six times as large. I think
this is the only point of Ught in which this account is
to be viewed, and is the only one in which any of the
colonies are concerned.
No colony, no possessor of lands in any colony,
therefore, wishes for conquests, or can be benefited by
them, otherwise than as they may be a means of se
curing peace on their borders. No considerable advan
tage has resulted to the colonies by the conquests of
this war, or can result from confirming them by the
peace, but what they must enjoy in common with the
rest of the British people^ with this evident drawback
from their share of these advantages, that they wiU
necessarily lessen, or at least prevent the increase of
the value of what malces the principal part of theu-

CANADA PAMPHLET. 19
private property, their land. A people, spread through
the whole tract of country, on this side the Mississippi)
and secured by Canada in our hands, would probably
for some centuries find employment in agriculture, and
thereby free us at home effectually from our fears of
American manufactures. Unprejudiced men weU know,
that aU the penal and prohibitory laws that were ever
thought on wiU not be sufficient to prevent manufac
tures in a country, whose inhabitants surpass the num
ber that can subsist by the husbandry of it. That this
wUl be the case in America soon, if our people remain
confined within the mountains, and almost as soon
should it be unsafe for them to live beyond, though the
country be ceded to us, no man acquainted with poUt
ical and commercial history can doubt. Manufactures
are founded in poverty. It is the multitude of poor
without land in a country, and who must work for
others at low wages or starve, that enables undertakers
to carry on a manufacture, and afford it cheap enough
to prevent the importation of the same kind from
abroad, and to bear the expense of its own exportation.
But no man, who can have a piece of land of his
own, sufficient by his labor to subsist his family in
plenty, is poor enough to be a manufacturer, and work
for a master. Hence, whUe there is land enough in
America for our people, there can never be manufac
tures to any amount or value. It is a striking obser
vation of a very able pen, that the natural liveUhood of
the thin inhabitants of a forest country is hunting ; that
of a greater number, pasturage ; that of a middUng
population, agriculture ; and that of the greatest, manu
factures ; which last must subsist the hulk of the people
m a fuU country, or they must be subsisted by charity,
or perish. The extended population, therefore, that is
most advantageous to Great Britain, will be best

20 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
effected, because only effectually secured, by the posses
sion of Canada.
So far as the being of our present colonies in North
America is concerned, I think indeed with the Remark
er, that the French there are not "an enemy to be
apprehended ; " * but the expression is too vague to be
applicable to the present, or indeed to any other case.
Algiers, Tunis, and TripoU, unequal as they are to this
nation in power and numbers of people, are enemies to
be StiU apprehended ; and the Highlanders of Scotland
have been so for many ages, by the greatest princes of
Scotland and Britain. The wild Irish were able to
give a great deal of disturbance even to Queen Eliza
beth, and cost her more blood and treasure than her
war with Spain. Canada, in the hands of France, has
always stinted the growth of our colonies, in the course
of this war, and indeed before it; has disturbed and
vexed even the best and strongest of thera ; has found
means to murder thousands of their people, and unset
tle a great part of their country. Much more able wiU
it be to starve the growth of an infant settlement.
Canada has also found means to make this nation spend
two or three miUions a year in America ; and a people,
how smaU soever, that in theh- present situation can do
this as often as we have a war with them, is, me
thinks, "an enemy to be apprehended."
Our North American colonies are to be considered
as the frontier of the British empire on that side. The
frontier of any dominion being attacked, it becomes not
merely "the cause" of the people immediately at
tacked, the inhabitants of that frontier, but properly
"the cause" of the whole body. Where the frontier
people owe and pay obedience, there they have a
right to look for protection. No poUtical proposition is
* Remarks, p. 27.

CANADA PAMPHLET. 21
better established than this. It is therefore mvidious to
represent the " blood and treasure," spent in this war,
as spent in " the cause of the colonies " only ; and that
they are "absurd and ungrateful," if they think we
have done nothmg, unless we "make conquests for
them," and reduce Canada to gratify their " vain ambi
tion," &c. It will not be a conquest for them, nor
gratify any vain ambition of theirs. It wiU be a con
quest for the whole ; and all our people will, in the
increase of trade, and the ease of taxes, find the ad
vantage of it.
Should we be obUged, at any time, to make a war for
the protection of our commerce, and to secure the ex
portation of our manufactures, would it be fau- to repre
sent such a war, merely as blood and treasure spent in
the cause of the weavers of Yorkshire, Norwich, or the
West; the cutiers of Sheffield, or the button-makers
of Birmingham ? I hope it wiU appear, before I end
these sheets, that if ever there was a national war, this
is truly such a one ; a war in which the interest of the
whole nation is directly and fundamentally concerned.
Those, who would be thought deeply skiUed in human
nature, affect to discover self-interested views every
where, at the bottom of the fairest, the most generous
conduct. Suspicions and charges of this kind meet
with ready reception and beUef in the minds even of
the multitude, and therefore less acuteness and address
than the Remarker is possessed of would be sufficient
to persuade the nation generaUy, that aU the zeal and
spirit manifested and exerted by the colonies in this
war, was only in "their own cause," to "make con
quest for themselves," to engage us to make more for
them, to gratify their own "vain ambition."
But, should they now humbly address the mother
country, in the terms and the sentiments of the

22 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Remarker ; retum her their grateful aclmowledgments
for the blood and treasure she had spent in " their
cause"; confess that enough had not been done "for
them"; allow that "English forts, raised m proper
passes, wiU, with the wisdom and vigor of her adminis
tration," be a sufficient future protection ; express their
desires, that their people may be confined within the
mountains, lest, if they be suffered to spread and ex
tend themselves in the fertUe and pleasant country on
the other side, they should " increase infinitely from aU
causes," " live wholly on their own labor " and become
independent; beg, therefore, that the French may be
suffered to remain in possession of Canada, as their
neighbourhood may be useful to prevent our increase,
and the removing them may "in its consequences be
even dangerous " ; * I say, should such an address
from the colonies make its appearance here (though,
according to the Remarker, it would be a most just
and reasonable one) would it not, might it not, with
more justice be answered ; "We understand you. Gen
tlemen, perfectly weU ; you have only your interest in
view ; you want to have the people confined within
your present limits, that in a few years the lands you
are possessed of may increase tenfold in value. You
want to reduce the price of labor, by increasing num
bers on the same territory, that you may be able to set
up manufactures and vie with your mother country.
You would have your people kept in a body, that you
may be more able to dispute the commands of the
crown, and obtain an independency. You would have
the French left in Canada, to exercise your miUtary
virtue, and make you a warlike people, that you may
have more confidence to embark in schemes of disobe
dience, and greater ability to support them. You have
* Remarks, pp. 50, 51.

CANADA PAMPHLET. 23
tasted, too, the sweets of two or three millions
SterUng per annum spent among you by our fleets and
forces, and you are unwUUng to be without a pretence
for kindling up another war, and thereby occasioning a
repetition of the same delightful doses. But, Gentle
men, allow us to understand our interest a Uttle like
wise ; we shall remove the French from Canada, that
you may Uve in peace, and we be no more drained by
your quarrels. You shaU have land enough to cultivate,
that you may have neither necessity nor incUnation to
go into manufactures, and we wiU manufacture for you,
and govem you."
A reader of the Remarks may be apt to say, " If this
writer would have us restore Canada, on principles of
moderation, how can we, consistent with those princi
ples, retain Guadaloupe, which he represents of so
much greater value?" I wiU endeavour to explain this ;
because, by doing it, I shaU have an opportunity of
showing the truth and good sense of the answer to the
interested application I have just supposed. The au
thor, then, is only apparently and not really inconsistent
with himself. If we can obtain the credit of moderation
by restoring Canada, it is weU ; but we should, how
ever, restore it at all events ; because it would not only
be of no use to us ; but " the possession of it (in his
opmion) may m its consequences be dangerous." * As
how? Why, plainly, (at length it conies out) if the
French are not left there to check the growth of our
colonies, "they wiU extend themselves almost without
bounds into the inland parts, and increase infinitely from
aU causes ; becoming a numerous, hardy, independent
people ; possessed of a strong country, communicatmg
little or not at all with England, living whoUy on their
• Remarks, pp. 50, 51.

24 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS
own labor, and in process of time knowing Uttle and in-
quu-ing little about the mother country."
In short, according to this writer, our present colonies
are large enough and numerous enough; and the
French ought to be left in North America to prevent
their increase, lest they become not only useless, but
dangerous to Britain. I agree with the gentleman, that,
with Canada in our possession, our people in America
wUl increase amazingly. I know, that their common
rate of increase, where they are not molested by the
enemy, is doubling their numbers every twenty-five
years, by natural generation only ; exclusive of the ac
cession of foreigners.* I think this increase continuing
would probably, in a century more, make the number
of British subjects on that side the water more numer
ous than they now are on this ; but,
4. JVot necessary that the American Colonies should
cease being useful to the Mother Country. Their
Preference over the West India Colonies stated, f
I am far from entertaining, on that account, any fears
of their becoming either useless or dangerous to us;
and I look on those fears to be merely imaginary, and
without any probable foundation. The Remarker is
* The reason of this greater increase in America than in Europe is,
that, in old settled countries, all trades, farms, offices, and employments
are full ; and many people refrain from marriage tiU they see an opening,
in which they can settle themselves, with a reasonable prospect of main
taining a family ; but in America, it being easy to obtain land, which, with .
moderate labor will afford subsistence and something to spare, people
marry more readily and earlier in life, whence arises a numerous offspring
and the swift population of those countries. It is a common error, that
we cannot fill our provinces, or increase the number of them, without
draining this nation of its people. Tlie increase alone of our present
colonies is sufficient for both those purposes.
f It is observable, that the heads of divisions are somewhat awkwardly
inserted. They were not contained in the author's original edition, but
were subsequently added by another hand, and have since been retained.
— Editor.

CANADA PAMPHLET. 25
reserved in giving his reasons ; as, in his opinion, this
"is not a fit subject for discussion." I shaU give mine,
because I conceive it a subject necessary to be dis
cussed ; and the rather, as those fears, now groundless
and chimerical soever, may, by possessing the multitude,
possibly induce the ablest ministry to conform to them
against their own judgment ; and thereby prevent the
assuring to the British name and nation a stabUity and
permanency, that no man acquainted with history durst
have hoped for, tiU our American possessions opened
the pleasing prospect.
The Remarker thinks, that our people in America,
" finding no check from Canada, would extend them
selves almost without bounds into the inland parts, and
increase infinitely from aU causes." The very reason
he assigns for their so extending, and which is indeed
the true one, (their being " invited to it by the pleas
antness, fertUity, and plenty of the country,") may sat
isfy us, that this extension wiU continue to proceed as
long as there remains any pleasant, fertUe country within
their reach. And if we even suppose them confined
by the waters of the Mississippi westward, and by
those of St. Lawrence and the Lakes to the northward,
yet stiU we shaU leave them room enough to increase,
even in the manner of settling now practised there, tUl
they amount to perhaps a hundred miUions of souls.
•This must take some centuries to fulfil; and in the
mean time this nation must necessarily supply them
with the manufactures they consume ; because the new
settlers wiU be employed in agriculture ; and the new
settlements wiU so continuaUy draw off the spare hands
from the old, that our present colonies wUl not, during
the period we have mentioned, find themselves in a
condition to manufacture, even for their own inhabit-
VOL. IV. 4 c

26 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
ants, to any considerable degree, much less for those
who are settling behind them.
Thus our trade must, tUl that country becomes as
fuUy peopled as England, (that is, for centuries to
come,) be continuaUy increasing, and with it our naval
power; because the ocean is between us and them,
and our ships and seamen must mcrease as that trade
mcreases. The human body and the poUtical differ in this ; that
the first is Umited by nature to a certain stature, which,
when attained, it cannot ordinarUy exceed ; the other,
by better government and more pmdent poUcy, as weU
as by the change of manners and other circumstances,
often takes fresh starts of growth, after being long at
a stand ; and may add tenfold to the dimensions it had
for ages been confined to. The mother, bemg of full
stature, is in a few years equalled by a growing daugh
ter ; but in the case of a mother-country and her colo
nies, it is quite different. The growth of the chUdren
tends to increase the growth of the mother, and so the
difference and superiority is longer preserved. Were
the inhabitants of this island limited to their present
number by any thing in nature, or by unchangeable cir
cumstances, the equaUty of population between the
two countries might indeed sooner come to pass ; but
sure experience, in those parts oi the island where
manufactures have been introduced, teaches us, that
people increase and multiply in proportion as the means
and facUity of gaming a Uvelihood increase ; and that
this island, if they could be employed, is capable of
supporting ten times its present, number of people.^
In proportion, therefore, as the demand increases for
the manufactures of Britain, by the increase of people
in her colonies, the number of her people at home will
increase ; and with them, the strength as weU as the

CANADA PAMPHLET. 27
wealth of the nation. For satisfaction in this point, let
the reader compare in his mind the number and force
of our present fleets with our fleet in Queen EUza-
beth's time,* before we had colonies. Let him com
pare the ancient, with the present state of our towns
on or near Dur western coast (Manchester, Liverpool,
Kendal, Lancaster, Glasgow, and the countries round
them) that trade with any manufactures for our colonies,
(not to mention Leeds, HaUfax, Sheffield, and Buming-
ham,) and consider what a difference there is in the
numbers of people, buildings, rents, and the value of
land and of the produce of land; even if he goes
back no farther than is within man's memory. Let
him compare those countries with others on the same
island, where manufactures have not yet extended
themselves ; observe the present difference, and reflect
how much greater our strength may be, if numbers
give strength, when our manufactures shaU occupy
every part of the island where they can possibly be
subsisted. But, say the objectors, "there is a certain distance
from the sea, in America, beyond which the expense
of carriage wUl put a stop to the sale and consumption
of your manufactures ; and this, with the difficulty of
making retums for them, wiU obUge the inhabitants to
manufacture for themselves; of course, if you suffer
your people to extend their settlements beyond that
distance, your people become useless to you;" and
this distance is limited by some to two hundred miles,
by others to the Appalachian mountains.
Not to insist on a plain truth, that no part of a do
minion, from whence a govemment may on occasion
draw suppUes and aids both of men and money, (though
* Namely, forty sail, none of more than forty guns.

28 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
at too great a distance to be suppUed with manufac
tures from some other part,) is therefore to be deemed
useless to the whole ; I shaU endeavour to show, that
these imaginary Umits of utiUty, even in point of com
merce, are much too narrow. The inland parts of the
continent of Europe are farther from the sea, than the
Umits of settlement proposed for America. Germany
is fuU of tradesmen and artificers of aU kinds, and the
govemments there are not aU of them always favorable
to the commerce of Britain ; yet it is a weU-known
fact, that our manufactures find their way even into the
heart of Germany. Ask the great manufacturers and
merchants of the Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Man
chester, and Norwich goods ; and they wUl teU you,
that some of them send their riders frequently through
France or Spain, and Italy, up to Vienna, aijd back
through the middle and northem parts of Germany,
to show samples of their wares, and coUect orders,
which they receive by almost every maU to a vast
amount. Whatever charges arise on the carriage of
goods are added to the value, and aU paid by the
consumer. If these nations, over whom we can have no govern
ment, over whose consumption we can have no influ
ence, but what arises from the cheapness and goodness
of our wares, whose trade, manufactures, or commer
cial connexions are not subject to the control of our
laws, as those of our colonies certainly are in some de
gree; I say, if these nations purchase and consume
such quantities of our goods, notwithstanding the re
moteness of their situation from the sea ; how much less
Ukely is it, that the settlers in America, who must for
ages be employed in agriculture chiefly, should make
cheaper for themselves the goods our manufacturers at
present supply them with ; even if we suppose the

CANADA PAMPHLET. 29
carriage five, six, or seven hundred mUes from the sea
as difficult and expensive, as the like distance into Ger
many ; whereas in the latter, th6 natural distances are
frequently doubled by poUtical obstmctions ; I mean
the intermixed territories and clashing interests of
princes.* But when we consider, that the inland parts of
America are penetrated by great navigable rivers ; and
there are a number of great lakes, communicating with
each other, with those rivers, and with the sea, very
smaU portages here and there excepted;! that the
sea-coasts (if one may be aUowed the expression) of
those lalfes only amount at least to two thousand seven
hundred mUes, exclusive of the rivers running into them,
many of which are navigable to a great extent for
boats and canoes, through vast tracts of country ; how
Uttle Ukely is it, that the expense on the carriage of our
goods into those countries should prevent the use of
them. If the poor Indians in those remote parts are
now able to pay for the linen, wooUen, and iron wares
they are at present fumished with by the French and
English traders, though Indians have nothing but what
they get by hunting, and the goods are loaded with aU

* Sir C. Whitworth has the following assertion ; " Each state in Ger
many is jealous of its neighbours ; and hence, rather than facilitate tlie
export or transmit of its neighbour's products or manufactures, they have
all recourse to strangers." — State of Trade, p. xxiv. — B. V.
f From New York into Lake Ontario, the land-carriage of the several
portages altogether amounts to but about twenty-seven miles. From
Lake Ontario into Lake Erie, the land-carriage at Niagara is but about
twelve miles. All the lakes above Niagara communicate by navigable
straits, so that no land-carriage is necessary, to go out of one into another.
From Presqu' Isle on Lake Erie, there are but fifteen miles land-carriage,
and that a good wagon-road, to Beef River, a branch of the Ohio ;
which brings you into a navigation of many thousand miles inland, if
you take together the Ohio, the Mississippi, and all the great rivers and
branches that run into them.

30 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
the impositions fraud and knavery can contrive to en
hance their value, wiU not industrious EngUsh farmers,
hereafter settled in those countries, be much better
able to pay for what shall be brought them in the way
of fair commerce ?
If it is asked. What can such farmers raise, wherewith
to pay for the manufactures they may want from us ?
I answer, that the inland parts of America in question
are weU known to be fitted for the production of hemp,
flax, potash, and, above aU, siUc; the southern parts
may produce oUve-oU, raisins, currants, indigo, and
cochineal ; not to mention horses and black cattle,
which may easily be driven to the maritime markets,
and at the same time assist in conveying other com
modities. That the commodities first mentioned may
easily, by water and land carriage, be brought to the
sea-ports from interior America, wiU not seem incredi
ble, when we reflect, that liemp formerly came from the
Ukraine, the" most southern parts of Russia, to Wolog-
da, and down the Dwina to Archangel ; and thence,
by a perUous navigation, round the North Cape to Eng
land and other parts of Europe. It now comes from
the sarae country up the Dnieper, and down the Duna,
with much land-carriage. Great part of the Russia
iron, no high-priced commodity, is brought three hun
dred miles by land and water from the heart of Siberia.
Furs (the produce too of America) are brought to
Amsterdam from all parts of Siberia, even the most
remote, Kamtschatka. The same country furnishes
me with another instance of extended mland commerce.
It is found worth while to keep up a mercantUe com
munication between Pekin in China, and Petersburg.
And none of these instances of inland commerce exceed
those of the courses by which, at several periods, ihe
whole of tlie trade of the East was carried on. Before

CANADA PAMPHLET. 31
the prosperity of the Mameluke dominion in Egypt
fixed the staple for the riches of the East at Cairo and
Alexandria, (whither they were brought from the Red
Sea,) great part of those commodities were carried to
the cities of Cashgar and Balk. This gave birth to
those towns, that stUl subsist upon the remains of
their ancient opulence, amidst a people and country
equally wUd. From thence those goods were carried
down the Amu (the ancient Oxus) to the Caspian Sea,
and up the Wolga to Astrachan; from whence they
were carried over to and down the Don, to the mouth
of that river ; and thence again the Venetians directly,
and the Genoese and Venetians indirectly, by way of
Kaffa and Trebisond, dispersed them through the
MediteiTanean and some other parts of Europe.
Another part of those goods was carried over land
from the Wolga to the rivers Duna and Neva ; from
both they were carried to the city of Wisbuy in the
Baltic (so eminent for its sea-laws) ; and from the city
of Ladoga on the Neva, we are told, they were even
carried by the Dwina to Archangel ; and from thence
round the North Cape. If iron and hemp wiU bear the
charge of caniage from this inland country, other met
als wUl, as weU as iron ; and certainly siik, since three
pence per pound is not above one per cent on the
value, and amounts to twenty-eight pounds per ton.
If the growths of a country find their way out of it,
the manufactures of the country where they go wiU
infaUibly find their way into it.
They who understand the economy and principles of
manufactures know, that it is impossible to estabUsh
them in places not populous ; and, even in those that
are populous, hardly possible to estabUsh them to the
prejudice of the places already in possession of them.
Several attempts have been made in France and Spain,

32 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
countenanced by govemment, to draw from us, and
establish in those countries, our hardware and wooUen
manufactures ; but without success.
The reasons are various. A manufacture is part of a
great system of commerce, which takes in conveniences
of various kmds ; methods of providing materials of aU
sorts, machines for expediting and facUitating labor, aU
the channels of correspondence for vending the wares,
the credit and confidence necessary to found and sup
port this correspondence, the mutual aid of different
artisans, and a thousand other particulars, which time
and long experience have graduaUy estabUshed. A
part of such a system cannot support itself without the
whole ; and before the whole can be obtained the part
perishes. Manufactures, where they are in perfection,
are carried on by a multiplicity of hands, each of which
is expert only in his own part ; no one of them a mas
ter of the whole ; and, if by any means spirited away
to a foreign country, he is lost without his fellows.
Then it is a matter of the extremest difficulty to per
suade a complete set of workmen, skiUed in aU parts of
a manufactory, to leave their country together, and
settle in a foreign land. Some of the idle and drunken
may be enticed away ; but these only disappoint their
employers, and serve to discourage the undertakmg.
If by royal munificence, and an expense that the profits
of the trade alone would not bear, a complete set of good
and skUful hands are collected and carried over, they
find so much of the system imperfect, so many things
wanting to carry on the trade to advantage, so many
difficulties to overcome, and the knot of hands so easUy
broken by death, dissatisfaction, and desertion, that they
and their employers are discouraged together, and the
project vanishes into smoke.
Hence it happens, that estabUshed manufactures are

CANADA PAMPHLET. 33
hardly ever lost, but by foreign conquest, or by some
eminent interior fault in manners or government ; a bad
poUce oppressing and discouraging the workmen, or
reUgious persecutions driving the sober and industrious
out of the country. There is, in short, scarce a single
instance in history of the contrary, where manufactures
have once taken firm root. They sometimes start up
in a new place ; but are generaUy supported, like exotic
plants, at more expense than they are worth for any
thing but curiosity ; untU these new seats become the
refuge of the manufacturers driven frora the old ones.
The conquest of Constantinople, and final reduction
of the Greek empire, dispersed many curious manufac
turers into different parts of Christendom. The former
conquests of its provinces, had before done the same.
The loss of Uberty in Verona, MUan, Florence, Pisa,
Pistoia, and other great cities of Italy, drove the man
ufacturers of wooUen cloths into Spain and Flanders.
The latter first lost their trade and manufactures to
Antwerp and the cities of Brabant; from whence, by
persecution for religion, they were sent into Holland
and England ; while the civU wars, during the minority
of Charles the First of Spain, which ended in the loss
of the Uberty of their great towns, ended too in the
loss of the manufactures of Toledo, Segovia, Salaman
ca, Medina del Campo, &c. The revocation of the
Edict of JVantz communicated to aU the Protestant part
of Europe, the paper, silk, and other valuable manufac
tures of France; almost pecuUar at that time to that
country, and tUl then in vain attempted elsewhere.
To be convinced, that it is not soU and climate, nor
even freedom from taxes, that determines the residence
of manufacturers, we need only turn our eyes on Hol
land ; where a multitude of raanufactures are stiU car
ried on, perhaps more than on the same extent of
VOL. IV. 5

34 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
territory anywhere in Europe, and sold on terms upon
which they cannot be had in any other part of the
worid. And this too is true of those growths, which,
by their nature and the labor required to raise them,
come the nearest to manufactures.
As to the commonplace objection to the North
American settlements, that they are in the same climate,
and their produce the same, as that of England; in the
first place, it is not true ; it is particularly not so of the
countries now likely to be added to our settlements ;
and of our present colonies, the products, lumber, to
bacco, rice, and indigo, great articles of commerce, do
not interfere with the products of England ; in the next
place, a man must know very Uttle of the trade of the
world, who does not know, that the greater part of it is
carried on between countries whose cUmates differ very
little. Even the trade between the different parts of
these British Islands is greatly superior to that between
England and aU the West India Islands put together.
If I have been successful in proving, that a consid
erable commerce raay and wiU subsist between us and
our future most inland settleraents in North Araerica,
notwithstanding their distance, I have more than half
proved, that no other inconveniency will arise from theh"
distance. Many men in such a country must "know,"
must "think," and must "care" about the country they
chiefly trade with. The juridical and other connex
ions of government are yet a faster hold than even
commercial ties, and spread, directly and indirectly, far
and wide. Business to be sohcited and causes de
pending create a great intercourse, even where private
property is not divided in different countries ; yet this
division wiU always subsist, where different countries
are ruled by the same government. Where a man has
landed property, both in the mother country and the

CANADA PAMPHLET. 35
province, he wUi almost always Uve in the mother coun
try. This, though there were no trade, is singly a
sufficient gain. It is said, that Ireland pays near a
mUUon sterlmg annuaUy to its absentees in England.
The balance of trade fi-om Spam, or even Portugal,
is scarcely equal to this.
Let it not be said we have no absentees from North
America. There are many, to the vmter's knowledge ;
and, if there are at present but few of them, that dis
tinguish themselves here by great expense, it is owing
to the mediocrity of fortune among the inhabitants of
the northem colonies, and a more equal division of
landed property, than in the West India Islands, so that
there are as yet but few large estates. But if those,
who have such estates, reside upon and take care of
them themselves, are they worse subjects than they
would be if they Uved idly in England ?
Great raerit is assumed for the gentlemen of the
West Indies,* on the score of their residing and spend-
mg their money ih England. I would not depreciate
that merit ; it is considerable ; for they raight, if they
pleased, spend their money in France ; but the differ
ence between their spending it here and at home is
not so great. What do they spend it in when they are
here, but the produce and manufactures of this coun
try ? and would they not do the same if they were at
home ? Is it of any great importance to the EngUsh
farmer, whether the West India gentleman comes to
London and eats his beef, pork, and tongues, fresh ;
or has them brought to him in the West Indies, salted ?
Whether he eats his EngUsh cheese and butter, or
drinks his EngUsh ale, at London or in Barbadoes ? Is
the clothier's, or the mercer's, or the cutler^s, or the
* Remarks, pp. 47, 48, &c.

36 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
toyman's profit less, for their goods being wom and
consuraed by the sarae persons residing on the other
side of the ocean ? Would not the profits of the raer
chant and mariner be rather greater, and some addition
made to our navigation, ships, and seamen ? If the
North American gentleman stays in his own country,
and Uves there in that degree of luxury and expense,
with regard to the use of British manufactures, that his
fortune enables hira to do, may not his example, from
the imitation of superiors so natural to mankind, spread
the use of those manufactures among hundreds of
famUies around hira, and occasion a much greater de
mand for them, than it would do if he should remove
and Uve in London ?
However this raay be, if, in our views of immediate
advantage, it seeras preferable, that the gentlemen of
large fortunes in North America should reside much in
England, it is what may surely be expected, as fast as
such fortunes are acquired there. Their having " col
leges of their own for the education of their youth,"
wiU not prevent it. A little knowledge and leaming
acquired increases the appetite for more, and wUl make
the conversation of the leamed on this side the water
more strongly desired. Ireland has its university like
wise; yet this does not prevent the immense pecu
niary benefit we receive from that kingdom. And there
wUl always be, in the conveniencies of life, the poUte
ness, the pleasures, the magnificence of the reigning
country, many other attractions besides those of learn
ing, to draw men of substance there, where they can,
apparently at least, have the best bargain of happmess
fpr their money.
Our trade to the West India Islands is undoubtedly
a valuable one ; but, whatever is the amount of it, it has

CANADA PAMPHLET. 37
long been at a stand. Liraited as our sugar planters
are by the scantmess of territory, they cannot increase
much beyond their present number; and this is an
evU, as I shaU show hereafter, that wiU be Uttle helped
by our keeping Guadaloupe.
The trade to our northern colonies is not only great
er, but yearly increasing with the increase of the
people ; and even in a greater proportion, as the peo
ple increase in wealth and the abiUty of spending, as
weU as in numbers.* I have already said, that our
* The writer has obtained accounts of the exports to North America
and the West India Islands, by which it appears, that there has been
some increase of trade to those Islands, as well as to North America,
though in a much less degree. The foUowing extract from these ac
counts will show the reader, at one view, the amount of the exports to
each, in two different terms of five years ; the terms taken at ten years'
distance from each other, to show the increase, viz.
First term, from 1744 to 1748, inclusive.

Northern Colonies.

West India Islanda.

1744
1745 17461747 1748

£640,114 12
534,316 2
754,945 4
726,648 5
830,243 16

4
5 359

£ 796,112 17 9
503,669 19 9
472,994 16 7
856,463 18 6
734,095 15 3
• 
3,353,337 10 10
Difference, 122,930 10 4

Total,

3,486,261 1

2 ]

£3,486,268 1 2

Second term, from 1754 to 1758, inclusive.
Northern Colonies. West India Islanda,
1754 £1,246,615 1 11 £685,675 3 0
1755 1,177,848 6 10 694,667 13 3
1756 1,428,720 18 10 733,458 16 3
1757 1,727,924 2 10 776,488 0 6
1758 1,832,948 13 10 877,571 19 11

Tota], 7,414,057 4 3 3,767,841 12 11
Difference, 3,646,215 11 4

£7,414,057 4 3
VOL. IV. D

38 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
people m the northem colonies double m about twenty-
five years, exclusive of the accession of strangers.
That I speak within bounds, I appeal to the authentic
accounts frequently required by the Board of Trade,
and transmitted to that Board by the respective gov
ernors ; of which accounts I shall select one as a sara
ple, being that from the colony of Rhode Island ; * a
In the first term, total of West India Islands, £ 3,363,337 10 10
In the second term ditto .... 3,767,8411211

Increase, only £404,504 2 I
In the first term, total for the northern colonies, 3,486,268 1 2
In the second term, ditto .... 7,414,057 4 3

Increase, £ 3,927, 789 3 1
By these accounts it appears, that the exports to the West India
Islands, and to the northern colonies, were in the first term nearly equal
(the difference being only £ 122,936 10s. 4d.), and in the second term,
the exports to those islands had only increased £404,504 2s. Id.
Whereas the increase to the northem colonies is £3,927,789 3s. Id.,
almost ybur millions.
Some part of this increased demand for English goods may be as
cribed to the armies and fleets we have had both in North America and
the West Indies ; and so much for what is consumed by the soldiery ;
their clothing, stores, ammunition, &c. sent from hence on account of
the govemment, being (as is supposed) not included in these accounts
of merchandise exported ; but, as the war has occasioned a great plenty
of money in America, many of the inhabitants have increased their
expense. N. B. These accounts do not include any exports from Scotland to
America, which are doubtless proportionably considerable ; nor the ex
ports from Ireland.
» Copy of the Report of Governor Hopkins to the Board of Trade, on
the Numbers of People in Rhode Island.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, I have caused the within
account to be taken by officers under oath. By.it there appears to be in
this colony at this time 35,939 white persons, and 4,697 blacks, chiefly
negroes. In the year 1730, by order of the then Lords Commissioners of Trade
and Plantations, an account was taken of the number of people in this
colony, and then there appeared to be 15,302 white persons, and 2,633
blacks.

CANADA PAMPHLET. 39
coteny that of aU the others receives the least addition
from strangers. For the increase of our trade to those
colonies, I refer 'to the accounts frequently laid before
ParUament, by the ofiicers of the customs, and to the
custom-house books ; from which I have also selected
one account, that of the trade frora England, exclusive
of Scotland, to Pennsylvania ; * a colony most remark
able for the plain frugal manner of Uving of its inhabit
ants, and the most suspected of carrying on manufac
tures, on account of the number of German artisans
who are ?known to have transplanted themselves into
that country ; though even these, in tmth, when they
come there, generaUy apply themselves to agriculture,
as the surest support and most advantageous em
ployraent. By this account it appears, that the exports to that
province have, in twenty-eight years, increased nearly
in the proportion of seventeen to one; whereas the
Again in the year 1748, by like order, an account was taken of the
number of people in this colony, by which it appears there were at that
time 29,755 white persons, and 4,373 blacks. Stephen Hofeins.
Colony of Rhode Island, December 24th, 17,55.
* An Account ofthe Value ofthe Exports from England to Pennsylvania,
in one Year, taken at different Periods, viz.
In 1723 they amounted only to £ 15,992 19 4
1730 they were . . 48,592 7 5
1737  56,690 6 7
1742 .... 75,295 3 4
1747  82,404 17 7
1752 .... 201,666 19 11
1757  268,426 6 6
N. B. The accounts for 1758 and 1759 were not then completed ; but
those acquainted with the North American trade know, that the increase
in those two years had been in a still greater proportion ; the last year
being supposed to exceed any former year by a third ; and this owing to
the increased ability of the people to spend, from the greater quantities
of money circulating among them by the war.

40 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
people themselves, who by other authentic accounts
appear to double their numbers (the strangers who
settle there included) in about sixteen years, cannot m
the twenty-eight years have increased in a greater pro
portion than as four to one. The additional demand,
then, and consumption of goods from England, of thir
teen parts in seventeen, raore than the additional nura
ber would require, must be owing to this; that the
people, having by their industry mended their circum
stances, are enabled to indulge themselves in finer
clothes, better furniture, and a more general use of aU
our manufactures than heretofore.
In fact, the occasion for EngUsh goods in North
Araerica, and the incUnation to have and use thera, is,
and raust be for ages to corae, much greater than the
abUity of the people to pay for them ; they must there
fore, as they now do, deny theraselves many things
they would otherwise choose to have, or increase their
industry to obtain them. And thus, if they should at
any tirae raanufacture sorae coarse article, which, on
account of its bulk or some other circumstance, cannot
so weU be brought to them from Britam ; it only enables
thera the better to pay for finer goods, that otherwise
they could not indulge themselves in ; so that the ex
ports thither are not diminished by such manufacture,
but rather increased. The single article of raanufacture
in these colonies, raentioned by the Remarker, is hats
raade in New England. It is true, there have been,
ever since the first settlement of that country, a few
hatters there ; drawn thither probably at first by the
faciUty of getting beaver, whUe the woods were but
litde cleared, and there was plenty of those anunals.
The case is greatly altered now. The beaver skins
are not now to be had in New England, but from
very remote places and at great prices. The trade is

CANADA PAMPHLET. 41
accordingly decUning there ; so that, far from being able
to make hats in any quantity for exportation, they can
not supply their home demand ; and it is weU known,
that some thousand dozens are sent thither yearly from
London, Bristol, and Liverpool, and sold cheaper than
the inhabitants can make them of equal goodness.
In fact, the colonies are so little suited for estabUsh
ing of manufacture, that they are continuaUy losing the
few branches they accidentally gain. The working
braziers, cutlers, and pewterers, as weU as hatters,
who have happened to go over from time to tirae and
settle in the colonies, graduaUy drop the working part
of -their business, and iraport their respective goods
frora England, whence they can have thera cheaper
and better than they can raake them. They continue
th^ir shops indeed, in the same way of deaUng; but
become sellers of braziery, cutlery, pewter, hats, &,c.
brought from England, instead of being makers of those
goods. 5. The American Colonies not dangerous in their Ma
ture to Great Britain.
Thus rauch as to the apprehension of our colonies
becoming useless to us. I shaU next consider the
other supposition, that their growth may render them
dangerous. Of this, I own, I have not the least con
ception, when I consider that we have already fourteen
separate governments on the maritime coast of the con
tinent ; and, if we extend our settlements, shaU prob
ably have as raany more behind them on the inland
side. Those we now have are not only under different
governors, but have different forras of governraent, dif
ferent laws, different interests, and sorae of thera dif
ferent religious persuasions, and different raanners.
Their jealousy of each other is so great, that, how-
VOL. IV. 6 D *

42 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
ever necessary a union of the colonies has long been,
for their common defence and security against their
enemies, and how sensible soever each colony has been
of that necessity; yet they have never been able to
effect such a union araong theraselves, nor even to
agree in requesting the raother country to estabUsh it
for them. Nothing but the iraraediate coraraand of the
crown has been able to produce even the iraperfect
union, but lately seen there, of the forces of sorae col
onies. If they could not agree to unite for their de
fence against the French and Indians, who were per
petuaUy harassing their settleraents, burning their vU
lages, and murdering their people; can it reasonably
be supposed there is any danger of their uniting against
their own nation, which protects and encourages them,
with which they have so many connexions and ties of
blood, interest, and affection, and which, it is weU
known, they all love much more than they love one
another ?
In short, there are so raany causes that must operate
to prevent it, that, I wiU venture to say, a union amongst
them for such a purpose is not merely improbable, it
is irapossible. And if the union of the whole is im
possible, the attempt of a part raust be madness ; as
those colonies, that did not join the rebellion, would
join the raother country in suppressing it. When I
say such a union is unpossible, I mean, without the
most grievous tyranny and oppression. People, who
have property in a country which they may lose, and
privileges which they may endanger, are generally dis
posed to be quiet, and even to bear much, rather than
hazard aU. WhUe the govemment is mUd and just,
whUe important civU and reUgious rights are secure,
such subjects wUl be dutiful and obedient. The waves
do not rise but when the winds blow.

CANADA PAMPHLET. 43
What such an administration, as the Duke of Alva's
in the Netherlands, might produce, I know not ; but this
I think I have a right to deem impossible. And yet
there were two very manifest differences between that
case and ours ; and both are in our favor. The fiirst,
that Spain had already united the seventeen provinces
under one visible government, though the States con
tinued independent ; the second, that the inhabitants of
those provinces were of a nation, not only different
from, but utterly unlike the Spaniards. Had the Neth
erlands been peopled from Spain, the worst of oppres
sion had probably not provoked them to wish a separa
tion of government. It might, and probably would,
have ruined the country ; but would never have pro
duced an independent sovereignty. In fact, neither
the very worst of governments, the worst cf politics in
the last century, nor the total aboUtion of their remain
ing Uberty, in the provinces of Spain itseU", in the
present, have produced any independency in Spain,
that could be supported. Tie same may be observed
of France.
And let it not be said, that the neighbourhood of
these to the seat of government has prevented a separ
ation. WhUe our strength at sea continues, the banks
of the Ohio, in point of easy and expeditious convey
ance of troops, are nearer to London, than the remote
parts of France and Spain to their respective capitals ;
and much nearer than Connaught and Ulster were in
the days of Queen Elizabeth. Nobody foreteUs the
dissolution of the Russian monarchy from its extent;
yet I wUl venture to say, the eastern parts of it are
already rauch raore inaccessible from Petersburg, than
the country on the Mississippi is from London ; I raean,
more men, in less tune, might be conveyed to the latter
than the former distance. The rivers Oby, Jenessa,

44 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
and Lena do not faciUtate the coramunication half so
weU by their course, nor are they half so practicable
as the American rivers. To this I shaU only add the
observation of Machiavel, in his "Prince"; that a gov
emment seldora long preserves its dorainion over those
who are foreigners to it ; who, on the other hand, faU
with great ease, and continue inseparably annexed to the
govemment of their own nation ; which he proves by
the fate of the English conquests in France. Yet with
aU these disadvantages, so difficult is it to overturn an
estabUshed governraent, that it was not without the as
sistance of France and England, that the United Prov
inces supported themselves ; which teaches us, that,
6. The French remaining in Canada, an Encourage
ment to Disafi^ections in the British Colonies. If
they prove a Check, that Check of ihe most barbarous
JVaiure. If the visionary danger of independence in our colo
nies is to be feared, nothing is more Ukely to render it
substantial, than the neighbourhood of foreigners at en
raity with the sovereign governraents, capable of giving
either aid,* or 'an asylum, as the event shaU require.
* The aid Dr. Franklin alludes to must probably have consisted in
early and full supplies of arras, ofiicers, intelligence, and trade of export
and of import, through the River St. Lawrence, on risks both public and
private ; in the encouragement of splendid promises and a great ally ; in
the passage from Canada to the back settlements being shut to the Brit
ish forces ; in the quiet of the great body of Indians ; in the support of
emissaries and discontented citizens ; in loans and subsidies to Con
gress, in ways profitable to France ; in a refuge to be granted them in
case of defeat, in vacant lands, as settlers ; in the probability of war
commencing earlier between England and France, at tlie Gulf of St
Lawrence (when the shipping taken were rightfully addressed to French
men) than in the present case. All this might have happened, as soon
as America's distaste of England had exceeded the fear of the foreign
nation ; a circumstance frequently seen possible in history, and which the
British ministers took care should not be wanting.
This explanation would have been superfluous, hac! not the opinion

CANADA PAMPHLET. 45
Yet against even these disadvantages, did Spam pre
serve almost ten provinces, merely through their want
of union; which, indeed, could never have taken place
among the others, but for causes, some of which are in
our case irapossible, and others it is irapious to suppose
possible. The Roraans weU understood that poUcy, which
teaches the security arising to the chief government
from separate states among the governed ; when they
restored the liberties of the States of Greece (op
pressed but united under Macedon) by an edict, that
every State should live under its own laws.* They did
not even name a governor. Independence of each
other and separate interests (though araong a people
united by common manners, language, and I may say
religion ; inferior neither in wisdora, bravery, nor their
love of liberty, to the Roraans themselves ; ) were aU
the security the sovereigns wished for their sovereignty.
It is tme, they did not caU themselves sovereigns ;
they set no value on the title ; they were contented
with possessing the thing. And possess it they did,
even without a standing army. What can be a
stronger proof of the security' of their possession?
And yet, by a poUcy simUar to this throughout, was
the Roman world subdued and held ; a world com
posed of above a hundred languages and sets of man-

been very general in England, that, had not the French heen removed from,
Canada, the revolt of America never would have taken place. Why, then,
were the French not left in Canada at the peace of 1763 ? Or, since
they were not left there, why was the American dispute begun .' Yet, in
one sense, perhaps this opinion is true ; for had the French been left
in Canada, the English ministers would not only have sooner felt, but
sooner have seen, the strange fatality of their plans. — B. V.
* "Omnes Grsecorum civitates, quae in Europa, qusque in Asia essent,
libertatem ac suas lej-es haberent," &c. — Liv. lib. xxxiii. cap. 30.

46 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
ners, different from those of their masters.* Yet this
dWinion was unshakable, tUl the loss of liberty and
corruption of manners hi the sovereign State over
turned iti
But what is the pmdent poUcy mculcated by the
Remarker to obtain this end, security of dorainion over
our colonies ? It is, to leave the French in Canada to
"check" their growth; for otherwise, our people may
" increase infinitely from aU causes." t We have al
ready seen in what raanner the French and their In
dians check the growth of our colonies. It is a mod
est word, this check, for massacring men, women, and
children ! The writer would, if he could, hide from
himself, as weU as from the public, the horror arisuig
from such a proposal, by couching it in general terms.
It is no wonder he thought it a "subject not fit for dis
cussion" in his letter; though he recommends it as
"a point, that should be the constant object of the
rainister's attention ! "
But, if Canada is restored on this principle, wUl not
Britain be guUty of aU the blood to be shed, aU the

* When the Romans had subdued Macedon and Illyricum, they were
both formed into republics by a decree of the Senate, and Macedon was
thought safe from the danger of a revolution, by being divided into a
division common among the Romans, as we learn from the tetrarchs in
Scripture. " Omnium primum liberos esse placebat Macedonas atque Uly-
rios ; ut omnibus gentibus appareret, arma populi Romani non liberis ser
vitutem, sed contra servientibus libertatem afferre ; ut et in libertate
gentes quee essent, tutam eam sibi perpetuamque sub tutela populi Ro
mani esse ; et, quse sub regibus viverent, et in presens tempus mitiores
eos justioresque respectu populi Romani habere se, et, si quando bellnm
cum populo Romano regibus fuisset suis, exitum ejus victoriam Roma-
nis, sibi libertatem, allaturum erederent  In quatuor regione*
describi Macedoniam, ut suum quseque concilium haberet, placuit ; et
dimidium tributi, quJim quod regibus ferre soliti erant, populo Romano
pendere. Similia his et in Illyricum mandata." — Liv. lib. xlv. cap. 18.
•f Remarks, pp. 50, 51.

CANADA PAMPHLET. 47
murders to be committed, in order to check this dread
ed growth of our own people ? WiU not this be teUing
the French in plain terms, that the horrid barbarities
they perpetrate with Indians on our colonists are agree
able to us ; and that they need not apprehend the re
sentment of a governraent, with whose views they so
happUy concur ? WUl not the colonies view it in this
light? WiU they have reason to consider themselves
any longer as subjects and chUdren, when they find
their cruel enemies hallooed upon them by the country
from whence they sprung ; the govemment that owes
them protection, as it requires their obedience ? Is not
this the most Ukely raeans of driving thera into the
arms of the French, who can invite thera by an offer
of security, their own government chooses not to af
ford them ? I would not be thought to insinuate, that
the Remarker wants humanity. I know how Uttle many
good-natured persons are affected by the distresses of
people at a distance, and whom they do not know.
There are even those, who, being present, can sympa
thize sincerely with the grief of a lady on the sudden
death of a favorite bird ; and yet can read of the sink
ing of a city in Syria with very little concern.
If it be, after all, thought necessary to check the
growth of our colonies, give me leave to propose a
method less cruel. It is a method of which we have
an example in Scripture. The murder of husbands, of
wives, of brothers, sisters, and chUdren, whose pleasing
society has been for some time enjoyed, affects deeply
the respective surviving relations ; but grief for the death
of a chUd just born is short and easily supported. The
method I mean is that, which was dictated by the
Egyptian poUcy, when the "infinite increase" of the
children of Israel was apprehended as dangerous to

48 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
the State.* Let an act of Pariiament then be made,
enjoining the colony midwives to stifle in the birth
every third or fourth child. By this means you may
keep the colonies to their present size. And if they
were under the hard alternative of subraitting to one
or the other of these scheraes for checking their
growth, I dare answer for thera, they would prefer the
latter. But all this debate about the propriety or raipropri-
ety of keeping or restoring Canada is possibly too early.
We have taken the capital indeed, but the country is
yet far from being in our possession; and perhaps
never wiU be ; for, if our ministers are persuaded hji
such counseUors as the Remarker, that the Freflrf
there are "not the worst of neighbours," and thgt^if
we had conquered Canada, we ought, for our c^^n
sakes, to restore it, as a check to the growth of our
colonies, I am then afraid we shaU never take it. For
there are many ways of avoiding the completion of the
conquest, that wiU be less exceptionable and less
odious than the giving it up.
7. Canada easily peopled without draining Oreat
Britain of any of its Inhabitants.
The objection I have often heard, that, if we had
Canada, we could not people it without draining Brit
ain of its inhabitants, is founded on ignorance of the
nature of population in new countries. When we first
began to colonize in America, it was necessary to send

* " And Pharaoh said unto his people. Behold, the people of the chil
dren of Israel are more and mightier than we ; come on, let us deal wisely
with them, lest they multiply, and it come to psiss, that, when there falleth
out any war, they join also unto our enemies and fight against us, and
so get them up out of the land. And the king spake to the Hebrew mid-
wives," &c. — Exod-us, ch. i.

CANADA PAMPHLET. 49
people, and to send seed-corn ; but it is not now neces
sary that we should furnish, for a new colony, either
the one or the other. The annual increment alone of
our present colonies, without diminishing their numbers,
or requiring a man from hence, is sufficient in ten years
t«<;' fiU Canada with double the nuraber of EngUsh, that
it now has of French inhabitants.* Those who are
Protestants araong the French wiU probably choose to
reraain under the EngUsh govemment; many wiU
choose to reraove, if they can be aUowed to seU their
lands, improvements, and effects ; the rest in that thin-
settled country wiU in less than half a century, from the
crowds of English settUng round and araong them, be
blended and incorporated with our people both in lan
guage and manners.
8. The Merits qf Guadaloupe to Great Britain over
valued, yet likely to be paid much dearer for, than
Canada.
In Guadaloupe the case is somewhat different ; and
though I ara far frora thinking f we have sugar-land
enough,! I cannot think Guadaloupe is so desirable an
increase of it, as other objects the eneray would probably
be infinitely more ready to part with. A country, fully
inhabited by any nation, is no proper possession for
* In fact, there have not gone from Britain itself to our colonies, these
twenty years past, to settle there, so many as ten famihes a year; the
new settlers are either the offspring of the old, or emigrants from Ger
many or the north of Ireland.
f Remarks, pp. 30, 34.
X It is often said, we have plenty of sugar-land still unemployed in Ja
maica ; but those who are well acquainted with that island know, that the
remaining vacant land in it is generally situated among mountains, rocks,
and gullies, that make carriage impracticable, so that no profitable use
can be made of it; unless the price of sugars should so greatly increase,
as to enable the planter to make very expensive roads, by blowing up
rocks, erecting bridges, &c., every two or three hundred yards.
VOL. IV. 7 E

50 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
another of different languages, manners, and reUgion.
It is hardly ever tenable at less expense than it is
worth. But the isle of Cayenne, said its appendix,
Equinoctial France, having but very few inhabitants,
and these therefore easily removed, would indeed be
an acquisition every way suitable to our situation and
desires. This would hold all that migrate from Bar
badoes, the Leeward Islands, or Jamaica. It would
certainly recaU into an English govemment, in which
there would be room for miUions, aU who have before
setded or purchased in Martinico, Guadaloupe, Santa
Cruz, or St. John's ; except such as know not the value
of an EngUsh govemment, and such I am sure are not
worth recalling.
But should we keep Guadaloupe, we are told it
would enable us to export £300,000 in sugars. Ad
mit it to be true, though perhaps the amazing increase
of EngUsh consumption might stop most of it here ; to
whose profit is this to redound ? To the profit of the
French inhabitants of the island ; except a smaU part,
that should faU to the share of the English purchasers,
but whose whole purchase-money must first be added
to the wealth and circulation of France. I grant, how
ever, much of this £300,000 would be expended in
British manufactures. Perhaps, too, a few of the land
owners of Guadaloupe might dweU and spend their for
tunes in Britain, though probably much fewer than of
the inhabitants of North America. I admit the advan
tage arising to us from these circumstances, as far as
they go, in the case of Guadaloupe, as weU as in that
of our other West India settlements. Yet even this
consumption is little better than that of an allied na
tion would be, who should take our manufactures and
supply us with sugar, and put us to no great expense
in defending the place of growth.

CANADA PAMPHLET. 51
But, though our own colonies expend among us al
most the whole produce of our sugar,* can we, or ought
we to promise ourselves this wUl be the case of Gua
daloupe ? One £ 100,000 wUl supply them with British
manufactures ; and supposing we can effectuaUy pre
vent the introduction of those of France, which is mor
ally impossible in a country used to them, the other
£ 200,000 wUl stUl be spent in France, in the educa
tion of their chUdren and support of themselves ; or
else be laid up there, where they wiU always think their
home to be.
Besides this consumption of British manufactures,
much is said of the benefit we shaU have from the sit
uation of Guadeloupe ; and we are told of a trade to
the Caraccas and Spanish Main. In what respect Gua
daloupe is better situated for this trade than Jamaica, or
even our other islands, I am at a loss to guess. I beUeve
it to be not so weU situated for that of the windward
coast, as Tobago and St. Lucia ; which in this, as weU
as other respects, would be more valuable possessions,
and which, I doubt not, the peace wUl secure to us.
Nor is it nearly so weU situated for that of the rest of
the Spanish Main as Jamaica. As to the greater safety
of our trade by the possession of Guadaloupe, experi
ence has convinced us, that in reducing a smgle island,
or even more, we stop the privateering business but
Uttle. Privateers stUl subsist, in equal if not greater
numbers, and carry the vessels into Martinico, which
before it was more convenient to carry into Guadaloupe.
Had we all the Caribbees, it Ls true, they would in
those parts be without shelter.
Yet, upon the whole, I suppose it to be a doubtful
point, and weU worth consideration, whether our obtain-
  '  ' ' ""¦' ' ¦ J' '  ¦'¦¦'
* Remarks, p. 47.

62 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
ing possession of aU the Caribbees would be more than
a teraporary benefit ; as it would necessarUy soon fiU
the French part of Hispaniola with French inhabitants,
and thereby render it five times more valuable in time
of peace, and Uttle less than impregnable in time of
war, and would probably end in a few years in the
uniting the whole of that great and fertUe island under
a French government. It is agreed on aU hands, that
our conquest of St. Christopher's, and driving the French
from thence, first furnished Hispaniola with skilful and
substantial planters, and was consequently the first oc
casion of its present opulence. On the other hand,
I wUI hazard an opinion, that, valuable as the French
possessions in the West Indies are, and undeniable as
the advantages they derive from them, there is some
what to be weighed in the opposite scale. They can
not at present make war with England, without ex
posing those advantages, whUe divided among the
numerous islands they now have, much more than they
would, were they possessed of St. Domingo only ; their
own share of which would, if weU cultivated, grow
more sugar than is now grown m aU their West India
Islands. I have before said, I do not deny, the utUity of the
conquest, or even of our future possession of Guada
loupe, if not bought too dear. The trade of the West
Indies is one of our most valuable trades. Our posses
sions there deserve our greatest care and attention. So
do those of North America. I shaU not enter mto the
invidious task of comparing their due estimation. It
would be a very long and a very disagreeable one, to
run through every thing materid on this head. It is
enough to our present point, if I have shown, that the
value of North America is capable of an immense in
crease, by an acquisition and measures, that must neces-

CANADA PAMPHLET. 53
sarily have an effect the direct contrary of what we
have been mdustriously taught to fear ; and that Gua
daloupe is, in point of advantage, but a very small
addition to our West India possessions; rendered
many ways less valuable to us, than it is to the French,
who wUl probably set more value upon it, than upon a
country [Canada] that is much raore valuable to us
than to thera.
There is a great deal more to be said on aU the
parts of these subjects ; but, as it would carry rae into
a detaU, that I fear would tire the patience of ray read
ers, and which I am not without apprehensions I have
done already, I shaU reserve what remains tiU I dare
venture again on the indulgence of the public*
* Dr. Franklin has often been heard to say, that in writing this pam
phlet he received considerable assistance from a learned friend, who was
not wUling to be named. — B. V.
It is stated, on the authority of William T. FrankUn, that the friend
here alluded to was Richard Jackson. — Editor.

A
NARRATIVE
OF THE LATE MASSACRES,
IN LANCASTER COUNTY,
OF A
NUMBER OF INDIANS, FRIENDS OF THIS PROVINCE,
BY PERSONS UNKNOWN.
WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE SAME.

FIRST PRINTED AT PHILADELPHIA, IN THE TEAR 1764.

These Indians were the remains of a tribe of the
Six Nations, settled at Conestogo, and thence caUed
Conestogo Indians. Qn the first arrival of the Eng
Ush in Pennsylvania, messengers from this tribe came
to welcorae them, with presents of venison, corn, and
skins; and the whole tribe entered into a treaty of
friendship with the first proprietor, WilUara Penn, which
was to last "as long as the sun should shine, or the
waters run in the rivers."
This treaty has been since frequently renewed, and
the chain brightened, as they express it, frora time to
time. It has never been violated, on their part or ours,
tiU now. As their lands by degrees were mostly pur
chased, and the settlements of the white people began
to surround thera, the proprietor assigned them lands
on the manor of Conestogo, which they might not part
with ; there they have Uved many years in friendship

NARRATIVE OF MASSACRES. 55
with theu- white neighbours, who loved them for their
peaceable inoffensive behaviour.
It has always been observed, that Indians settled in
the neighbourhood of white people do not increase, but
diminish continually. This tribe accordingly went on
dirainishing, tUl there remained in their town on the
manor but twenty persons, viz. seven men, five women,
and eight chUdren, boys and girls.
Of these, Shehaes was a very old man, having as
sisted at the second treaty held with them, by Mr.
Penn, in 1701, and ever since continued a faithful and
affectionate friend to the EngUsh. He is said to have
been an exceeding good man, considering his education,
being naturaUy of a most kind, benevolent temper.
Peggy was Shehaes's daughter ; she worked for her
aged father, continuing to Uve with him, though mar
ried, and attended hira with fiUal duty and tenderness.
John was another good old man ; his son Hairy
helped to support hira.
George and WUl Soc were two brothers, both young
men. John Smith, a valuable young raan of the Cayuga
nation, who became acquainted with Peggy, Shehaes's
daughter, some few years since, raarried, and settled
in that faraily. They had one chUd, about three years
old. Betty, a harraless old woman ; and her son Peter,
a Ukely young lad.
SaUy, whose Indian name was Wyanjoy, a woman
much esteeraed by aU that' knew her, for her prudent
and good behaviour in sorae very trying situations of
life. She was a truly good and an amiable woraan,
had no chUdren of her own ; but, a distant relation dy
ing, she had taken a chUd of that relation's, to bring up
as her own, and performed towards it all the duties
of an affectionate parent.

56 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
The reader wiU observe, that raany of then- names
are EngUsh. It is common with the Indians, that have
an affection for the EngUsh; to give theraselves and
their chUdren the naraes of such EngUsh persons as
they particularly esteera.
This Uttle society continued the custora they had
begijn, when raore nuraerous, of addressing every new
governor, and every descendant of the first proprietor,
welcoming him to the province, assuring hira of their
fidelity, and praying a continuance of that favor and
protection they had hitherto experienced. They had
accordingly sent up an address of this kind to our
present governor, on his arrival; but the sarae was
scarce deUvered, when the unfortunate catastrophe hap
pened, which we are about to relate.
On Wednesday, the 14th of December, 1763, fifty-
seven raen, frora sorae of our frontier townships, who
had projected the destrucdon of this little coraraon
wealth, carae, all weU mounted, and armed with fire
locks, hangers, and hatchets, having traveUed through
the country in the night, to Conestogo manor. There
they surrounded the smaU viUage of Indian huts, and
just at break of day broke into them aU at once. Only
three men, two women, and a young boy, were found
at horae, the rest being out among the neighbourmg
white people, some to seU the baskets, brooms, and
bowls they manufactured, and others on other occasions.
These poor defenceless creatures .were immediately
fired upon, stabbed, and hatcheted to death ! The
good Shehaes, araong the rest, cut to pieces in his bed.
AU of them were scalped and otherwise horribly man
gled. Then their huts were set on fire, and most of
them burnt down. When the troop, pleased with their
own conduct and bravery, but enraged that any of

NARRATIVE OF MASSACRES. 57
the poor Indians had escaped the massacre, rode off,
and in smaU parties, by different roads, went horae.
The universal concern of the neighbouring white
people, on hearing of this event, and the laraentations
of the younger Indians, when they returned and saw
the desolation, and the butchered, half-burnt bodies of
their murdered parents and other relations, cannot weU
be expressed.
The magistrates of Lancaster sent out to coUect the
remaining Indians, brought them into the town for their
better security against any farther attempt ; and, it is
said, condoled with thera on the raisfortune that had
happened, took them by the hand, coraforted, and
proraised them protection. They were aU put into the
workhouse, a strong buUding, as the place of greatest
safety. When the shocking news arrived in town, a procla
mation was issued by the governor, in the following
terms, viz.
"Whereas I have received information, that on
Wednesday, the fourteenth day of this raonth, a num
ber of people, armed and mounted on horseback, un
lawfully asserabled together, and went to the Indian
town in the Conestogo manor, in Lancaster county, and
without the least reason or provocation, in cool blood,
barbarously kiUed six of the Indians settled there, and
bumt and destroyed aU their houses and effects ; and
whereas so cruel and hihuman an act, coraraitted in the
heart of this province on the said Indians, who have
lived peaceably and inoffensively among us during all
our late troubles, and for many years before, and were
justly considered as under the protection of this gov
emment and its laws, caUs loudly for the vigorous ex
ertion of the civU authority, to detect the offenders, and
VOL. IV. 8

58 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
bring them to condign punishment ; I have, therefore,
by and with the advice and consent of the councU,
thought fit to issue this proclamation, and do hereby
strictly charge and enjoin aU judges, justices, sheriffSj
constables, officers, civil and miUtary, and aU other his
Majesty's liege subjects within this province, to make
dUigent search and inquiry after the authors and per
petrators of the said crirae, their abettors and accom
plices, and to use aU possible means to apprehend and
secure them in some of the pubUc gaols of this prov
ince, that they raay be brought to their trials, and be
proceeded against according to law.
" And whereas a nuraber of other Indians, who lately
lived on or near the frontiers of this province, being
wUUng and desirous to preserve and continue the an
cient friendship, which heretofore subsisted between
thera and the good people of this province, have, at
their own earnest request, been removed from their
habitations, and brought into the county of PhUadelphia,
and seated for the present, for their better security, on
the Province Island, and in other places in the neigh
bourhood of the city of PhUadelphia, where provision
is made for them at the pubUc expense ; I do, therefore,
hereby strictly forbid aU persons whatsoever, to molest
or injure any of the said Indians, as they wiU answer
the contrary at their peril.
" Given under my hand, and the great seal of the
said province, at PhUadelphia, the twenty-second day
of December, anno 'Domini one thousand seven hundred
and sixty-three, and in the fourth year of his Majesty's
reign. "John Penn.
" By his Honor's command,
"Joseph Shippen, Jr., Secretary.
"God save the King."

NARRATIVE OF MASSACRES. 69
Notwithstanding this proclamation, those cmel men
again assembled themselves, and, hearing that the re
maining fourteen Indians were in the workhouse at
Lancaster, they suddenly appeared in that town, on the
27th of December. Fifty of them, armed as before,
dismounting, went directly to the workhouse, and by
violence broke open the door, and entered with the
utmost fury in their countenances. When the poor
wretches saw they had no protection nigh, nor could
possibly escape, and being without the least weapon for
defence, they divided into their Uttle famiUes, the chU
dren clinging to the parents ; they feU on their knees,
protested their innocence, declared their love to the
English, and that, in their whole Uves they had never
done them injury ; and in this posture they aU received
the hatchet! Men, woraen, and Utde chUdren were
every one inhumanly murdered m cold blood !
The barbarous raen who committed the atrocious
fact, in defiance of government, of aU laws human and
divine, and to the eternal disgrace of their country and
color, then raounted their horses, huzzaed in triuraph,
as if they had gained a victory, and rode off un-
molested !
The bodies of the murdered were then brought out
and exposed m the street, tUl a hole could be made in
the earth to receive and cover them.
But the wickedness cannot be covered ; the guilt wiU
Ue on the whole land, tiU justice is done on the mur
derers. The blood of the innocent wiU cry to Heaven
for vengeance.
It is said, that, Shehaes being before told, that it was
to be feared some English might come from the fron
tier into the country, and murder him and his people,
he repUed, " It is irapossible ; there are Indians, indeed,
in the woods, who would kiU me and mine, if they

60 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
could get at us, for my friendship to the EngUsh ; but
the EngUsh will wrap rae in their raatchcoat, and secure
me from aU danger." How unfortunately was he mis
taken! Another proclamation has been issued, offering a
great reward for apprehending the murderers, in the
foUowing terms, viz.
" Whereas on the twenty-second day of Deceraber
last, I issued a proclaraation for the apprehending and
bringing to justice a nuraber of persons, who, in viola
tion of the public faith, and in defiance of aU law, had
inhuraanly killed six of the Indians, who had Uved in
Conestogo raanor, for the course of many years, peace
ably and inoffensively, under the protection of this gov
emment, on lands assigned to thera for their habitation ;
notwithstanding which, I have received inforraation, that
on the twenty-seventh of the sarae raonth, a large party
of armed men again assembled and met together in a
riotous and turaultuous manner, in the county of Lan
caster, and proceeded to the town of Lancaster, where
they violently broke open the workhouse, and butch
ered and put to death fourteen of the said Conestogo
Indians, men, women, and chUdren, who had been
taken under the iraraediate care and protection of the
magistrates of the said county, and" lodged for their
better security in the said workhouse, tiU they should
be more effectually provided for by order of the gov
ernment ; and whereas common justice loudly de
mands, and the laws of the land (upon the preservation
of which not only the liberty and security of every indi
vidual, but the being of the government itself depends,)
require, that the above offenders should be brought to
condign punishment ; I have, therefore, by and with the
advice of the councU, pubUshed this proclamation, and

NARRATIVE OF MASSACRES. 61
do hereby strictly charge and comraand aU judges,
justices, sheriffs, constables, officers civU and military,
and aU other his Majesty's faithful and Uege subjects
within this province, to raake diligent search and inquiry
after the authors and perpetrators of the said last-
mentioned offence, their abettors and accompUces, and
that they use aU possible means to apprehend and se
cure them in some of the public gaols of this province,
to be dealt with according to law.
" And I do hereby further proraise and engage, that
any person or persons, who shaU apprehend and se
cure, or cause to be apprehended and secured, any
three of the ringleaders of the said party, and prose
cute thera to conviction, shaU have and receive for
each the pubUc reward of two hundred pounds ; and
any accorapUce, not concerned in the iraraediate shed
ding the blood of the said Indians, who shaU make
discovery of any or either of the said ringleaders, and
apprehend and prosecute them to conviction, shall, over
and above the said reward, have aU the weight and in
fluence of the government, for obtaining his Majesty's
pardon for his offence.
" Given under my hand, and the great seal of the
said province, at PhUadelphia, the second day of Janu
ary, in the fourth year of his Majesty's reign, and in the
year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and
sixty-four.
"John Penn.
"By his Honor's command,
"Joseph Shippen, Jr., Secretary.
"God save the King."
These proclamations have as yet produced no dis
covery; the murderers having given out such threat
enings, agamst those that disapprove their proceedings,
VOL. IV. F

62 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
that the whole countj-y seems to be in terror, and no
one dares speak what he knows ; even the letters from
thence are unsigned, ui which any disUke is expressed
of the rioters.
There are some, (I am ashamed to hear it,) who
would extenuate the enormous wickedness of these
actions, by saymg, " The Inhabitants of the frontiers are
exasperated with the murder of their relations, by the
enemy Indians, in the present war." It is possible ;
but, though this might justUy their going out into the
woods, to seek for those enemies, and avenge upon
them those murders, it can never justify their turning
mto the heart of the country, to murder their friends.
If an Indian injures me, does it foUow, that I may
revenge that injury on aU Indians ? It is weU knovra,
that Indians are of different tribes, nations, and lan
guages, as weU as the white people. In Europe, if the
French, who are white people, should injure the Dutch,
are they to revenge it on the EngUsh, because they too
are white people? The only crime of these poor
wretches seems to have been, that they had a reddish-
brown skin and black hair ; and some people of that sort,
it seeras, had murdered some of our relations. If it be
right to kiU raen for such a reason, then, should any
man, with a freckled face and red hair, kiU a wife or
chUd of raine, it would be right for me to revenge it,
by kilUng all the freckled, red-hau-ed men, women, and
chUdren, I could afterwards anywhere meet with.
But it seems these people think they have a better
justification; nothing less than the Word of God.
With the Scriptures in their hands and mouths, they
can set at nought that express command. Thou shalt
do no murder; and justify their wickedness by the
command given Joshua to destroy the heathen. Horrid
perversion of Scripture and of reUgion ! To father the

NARRATIVE OF MASSACRES. 63
worst of crimes on the God of peace and love ! Even
the Jews, to whom that particular commission was di
rected, spared the Gibeonites, on account of their faith
once given. The faith of this governraent has been
frequently given to those Indians ; but that did not avaU
thera with people who despise govemment.
We pretend to be Christians, and, from the superior
Ught we enjoy, ought to exceed heathens, Turks, Sara
cens, Moors, Negroes, and Indians, in the knowledge
and practice of what is right. I wiU endeavour to
show, by a few exaraples from books and history, the
sense those people have had of such actions.
Horaer wrote his poera, caUed the Odyssey, some
hundred years before the birth of Christ. He fre
quently speaks of what he caUs not only the duties,
but the sacred rites of hospitality, exercised towards
strangers, while in our house or territory, as including,
besides aU the comraon circumstances of entertainraent,
fuU safety and protection of person, from aU danger of
life, from all injuries, and even insults. The rites of
hospitaUty were caUed sacred, because the stranger, the
poor, and the weak, when they appUed for protection
and reUef, were, from the religion of those times, sup
posed to be sent by the Deity to try the goodness of
men, and that he would avenge the injuries they raight
receive, where they ought to have been protected.
These sentiraents, therefore, influenced the manners of
aU ranks of people, even the meanest ; for we find, that,
when IJlysses came, as a poor stranger, to the hut of
Euraaeus, the swineherd, and his great dogs ran out to
tear the ragged man, Euraaeus drave them away with
stones ; and
" ' Unhappy stranger ! ' (thus the faithful swain
Began, with accent gracious and humane,)
'What sorrow had been mine, if at my gate
Thy reverend age had met a shameful fate !

64 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
But enter this my homely roof, and see
Our woods not void of hospitality.'
He said, and seconding the kind request,
With friendly step precedes the unknown guest,
A shaggy goat's soft hide beneath him spread.
And with fresh rushes heaped an ample bed.
Joy touched the hero's tender soul, to find
So just reception from a heart so kind ;
And ' O, ye gods, with all your blessings grace '
(He thus broke forth) ' this friend of human race ! '
The swain replied ; 'It never was our guise
To slight the poor, or aught humane despise.
For Jove unfolds the hospitable door,
'T is Jove that sends the stranger and the poor.' "
These heathen people thought, that after a breach of
the rites of hospitaUty, a curse frora Heaven would at
tend them in every thing they did, and even theh*
honest industry in their caUings would faU of success.
Thus when Ulysses teUs Eumaeus, who doubted the
trath of what he related, " If I deceive you in this, I
should deserve death, and I consent that you should
put me to death;" Eumaeus rejects the proposal, as
what would be attended with both infamy and misfor
tune, saying ironically,
" Doubtless, O guest, great laud and praise were mine,
If, after social rites and gifts bestowed,
I stained my hospitable hearth with blood.
How would the gods my righteous toils succeed.
And bless the hand that made a stranger bleed ?
No more.''
Even an open enemy, m the heat of batde, throw
ing down his arms, submitting to his foe, and asking
life and protection, was supposed to acquire an imme
diate right to that protection. Thus one describes his
being saved, when his party was defeated ;
" We turned to flight ; the gathering vengeance spread
On all parta round, and heaps on heaps lie dead
The radiant helmet from my brows unlaced.
And lo, on earth my shield and javelin cast,
I meet the monarch with a suppliant's face.
Approach his chariot, and his knees embrace.

NARRATIVE OF MASSACRES. 65
He heard, he saved, he placed me at his side ;
My state he pitied, and my tears he dried ;
Restrained the rage the vengeful foe expressed,
And turned the deadly weapons from my breast.
Pious to guard the hospitable rite,
And fearing Jove, whom mercy's works delight."
The suitors of Penelope are, by the same ancient
poet, described as a set of lawless men, who were re
gardless of the sacred rites of hospitaUty. And, there
fore, when the Queen was inforraed they were slam,
and that by Ulysses, she, not beUeving that Ulysses
was returned, says,
" Ah no ! some god the suitors' deaths decreed,
Some god descends, and by his hand they bleed ;
Blind, to contemn the stranger's righteous cause.
And violate all hospitable laws !
 The powers they defied ;
But Heaven is just, and by a god they died."
Thus much for the sentiments of the ancient heath
ens. As for the Turks, it is recorded in the Life of
Mahoraet, the founder of their religion, that Khaled, one
of his captains, having divided a nuraber of prisoners
between himself and those that were with him, he
coraraanded the hands of his own prisoners to be tied
behind them, and then, in a most cruel and brutal
manner, put them to the sword ; but he could not pre
vail on his men to massacre iheir captives, because in
fight they had laid dovra their arms, submitted, and
demanded protection. Mahomet, when the account
was brought to him, applauded the men for their hu
manity ; but said to Khaled, with great indignation,
"O Khaled, thou butcher, cease to molest me with
thy wickedness. If thou possessedst a heap of gold as
Jarge as Mount Obod, and shouldst expend it aU in
God's cause, thy merit would not efface the guUt
incurred by the murder of the meanest of those poor
captives."
VOL. IV. 9 r*

66 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Among the Arabs or Saracens, though it was lawful
to put to death a prisoner taken in battle, if he had
made himself obnoxious by his former wickedness, yet
this could not be done after he had once eaten bread,
or drunk water, while in their hands. Hence we read
in the history of the wars of the Holy Land, that when
the Franks had suffered a great defeat from Saladin,
and among the prisoners were the king of Jemsalem,
and Amold, a famous Christian captain, who had been
very cruel to the Saracens; these two being brought
before the Sultan, he placed the king on his right hand
and Arnold on his left ; and then presented the kmg
with a cup of water, who iraraediately drank to Amold ;
but when Arnold was about to receive the cup, the Sul
tan interrupted, saying, " I wiU not suffer this wicked
man to drink, as that, according to the laudable and
generous custom of the Arabs, would secure him his
life." That the sarae laudable and generous custom stUl
prevaUs araong the Mahometans, appears from the ac
count, but last year published, of his travels by Mr.
BeU, of Antermony, who accompanied the Czar, Peter
the Great, in his joumey to Derbent through Dagges-
tan. "The religion of the Daggestans," says he, "is
generally Mohammedan, some following the sect of Os
man, others that of Haly. Their language for the most
part is Turkish, or rather a dialect of the Arabic, though
many of them speak also the Persian language. One
article I cannot omit conceming their laws of hospitaUty,
which is, if their greatest enemy comes under their
roof for protection, the landlord, of what condition
soever, is obUged to keep him safe, from aU manner of
harm or violence, during his abode with him, and even
to conduct him safely through his territories to a place
of security."

NARRATIVE OF MASSACRES. 67
From the Saracens this same custom obtained among
the Moors of Africa ; was by them brought into Spain,
and there long sacredly observed. The Spanish historians
record with applause one famous instance of it. WhUe
the Moors govemed there, and the Spaniards were mixed
with them, a Spanish cavaUer, m a sudden quarrel, slew a
young Moorish gentleman, and fled. His pursuers soon
lost sight of him, for he had, unperceived, thrown him
self over a garden waU. The owner, a Moor, happen-
mg to be in his garden, was addressed by the Spaniard
on his knees, who acquainted hun with his case, and
implored concealment. " Eat this," said the Moor, giv
ing him half a peach; "you now know that you may
confide m my protection." He then locked him up in
his garden apartment, telUng him, that as soon as it was
night he would provide for his escape to a place of
more safety. The Moor then went into his house,
where he had scarce seated himself, when a great
crowd, with loud lamentations, carae to his gate, brmg-
ing the corpse of his son, that had just been kiUed by a
Spaniard. When the first shock of surprise was a Utde
over, he learnt, fi-om the description given, that the fatal
deed was done by the person then in his power. He
mentioned this to no one ; but, as soon as it was dark,
retired to his garden apartment, as if to grieve alone,
giving orders that none should foUow him. There ac
costing the Spaniard, he said, " Christian, the persoa
you have kUled is my son ; his body is now in my
house. You ought to suffer ; but you have eaten with
me, and I have given you my faith, which must not be
broken. FoUow me." He then led the astonished
Spaniard to his stables, mounted him on one of his
fleetest horses, and said, " Fly far whUe the night can
cover you. You wUl be safe in the morning. You are
mdeed guUty of my son's blood ; but God is just and

68 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
good, and I thank him that I ara innocent of yours, and
that my faith given is preserved."
The Spaniards caught from the Moors this punto of
honor, the effects of which reraain, in a degree, to this
day. So that when there is fear of a war about to
break out between England and Spain, an EngUsh
merchant there, who apprehends the confiscation of his
goods, as the goods of an eneray, thinks thera safe, Uf
he can get a Spaniard to take charge of them ; for the
Spaniard secures them as his own, and faithfuUy re
delivers thera, or pays the value, whenever the Eng
lishraan can safely demand it.
Justice to that nation, though lately our enemies, and
hardly yet our cordial friends, obliges me, on this occa
sion, not to omit mentioning an instance of Spanish
honor, which cannot but be stiU fresh in the memorv of
many yet living. In 1746, when we were in hot war
with Spain, the Elizabeth, of London, Captain WUUam
Edwards, coming through the Gulf from Jamaica, rich
ly laden, raet with a most violent storm, in which the
ship sprang a leak, that obliged them, for the saving
of their Uves, to run her into the Havana. The cap
tain went on shore, directly waited on the governor, told
the occasion of his putting in, and that he surrendered
his ship as a prize, and himself and his men as prison
ers of war, only requesting good quarter. " No, Sir,"
repUed the Spanish governor ; " if we had taken you in
fair war at sea, or approaching our coast with hostUe
intentions, your ship would then have been a prize, and
your people prisoners. But when, distressed by a tem
pest, you come into our ports for the safety of your
Uves, we, though enemies, bemg men, are bound as
such, by the laws of humanity to afford relief to dis
tressed men, who ask it of us. We cannot, even

NARRATIVE OP MASSACRES. 69
against our enemies, take advantage of an act of God.
You have leave therefore to unload the ship, if that be
necessary, to stop the leak ; you may refit here, and
traffic so far as shaU be necessary to pay the charges;
you may then depart, and I wiU give you a pass, to be
in force tiU you are beyond Berrauda. If after that you
are taken, you wiU then be a prize ; but now you are
only a stranger, and have a stranger's right to safety
and protection." The ship accordingly departed and
arrived safe in London.
WiU it be perraitted rae to adduce, on this occasion,
an instance of the like honor in a poor unenUghtened
African Negro. I find it in Captain Seagrave's account
of his Voyage of Guinea. He relates, that a New Eng
land sloop, trading there in 1752, left their second raate,
WilUam Murray, sick on shore, and saUed without him.
Murray was at the house of a black, naraed Cudjoe,
with whom he had contracted an acquaintance during
their trade. He recovered, and the sloop being gone,
he continued with his black friend tiU some other oppor
tunity should offer of his getting home. In the mean
while, a Dutch ship came into the road, and some of the
blacks going on board her were treacherously seized,
and carried off as slaves. Their relations and friends,
transported with sudden rage, ran to the house of Cud
joe to take revenge by kilUng Murray. Cudjoe stopped
them at the door, and demanded what they wanted.
" The white men," said they, "have carried away our
brothers and sons, and we wUl kiU aU white men ; give
us the white man that you keep in your house, for
we wUl kiU him." "Nay," said Cudjoe, "the white
men that carried away your brothers are bad men,
kiU them when you can catch them ; but this white
man is a good man, and you must not kiU him."

70 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
" But he is a white man," they cried ; " the white men
are aU bad, and we wUl kiU them afl." '-Nay," says he,
" you must not kiU a man, that has done no harm, only
for being white. This man is my fiiend, my house is
his fort, and I am his soldier. I must fight for him.
You must kiU me, before you can kiU him. What good
man wiU ever come again under my roo^ if I let my
floor be stained with a good man's blood ! " The Ne
groes, seeing his resolution, and being convinced by his
discourse that they were wrong, went away ashamed.
In a few days, Murray ventured abroad again with Cud
joe, when several of them took him by the hand, and
told him they were glad they had not killed him ; for, as
he was a good (meaning an innocent) man, their Grod
would have been angry, and would have spoUed their
fishing. "I relate this," says Captain Seagrave, "to show
that some among these dark people have a strong sense
of justice and honor, and that even the most brutal
among them are capable of feeUng the force of reason,
and of being influenced by a fear of God, Qi the knowl
edge of the trae Grod could be introduced among them,)
since even the fear of a false god, when their rage sub
sided, was not without its good effect"
Now I am about to mention something of Indians, I
beg that I may not be understood as fi-aming apologies for
all Indians. I am far fi-om desiring to lessen the laudable
spirit of resentment in my countrjTuen against those now
at war with us, so far as it is justified by their perfidy
and inhumanity". I would only observe, that the Sis
Nations, as a body, have kept faith with the EngUsh
ever since we knew them, now near a hundred years ;
and that the governing part of those people have had no
tions of honor, whatever may be the case with the rum-
debauched, trader-corrapted vagabonds and thieves on
the Susquehanna and Ohio, at presoit in arms ag^st

NARRATIVE OF MASSACRES. 71
US. As a proof of that honor, I shaU only mention one
weU-known recent fact. When six Catawba deputies,
under the care of Colonel BuU, of Charlestown, went
by permission into the Mohawlcs' country, to sue for
and treat of peace, for their nation, they soon found the
Six Nations highly exasperated, and the peace at that
time impracticable. They were therefore in fear of then-
own persons, and apprehended that they should be
jiiUed in their way back to New York ; which being
made known to the Mohawk chiefs by Colonel Bull,
one of them, by order of the council, made this speech
to the Catawbas;
" Strangers and Enemies,
" While you are in this country, blow away aU fear
out of your breasts ; change the black streak of paint
on your cheek for a red one, and let your faces shine
with bear's grease. You are safer here than if you
were at home. The Six Nations wiU not defile their
own land with the blood of men that come unarmed to
ask for peace. We shaU send a guard with you, to see
you safe out of our territories. So far you shall have
peace, but no farther. Get home to your own country,
and there take care of yourselves, for there we intend
to come and kill you."
The Catawbas came away unhurt accordingly.
It is also weU known, that just before the late war
broke out, when our traders first went araong the Pian-
keshaw Indians, a tribe of the Twigtwees, they found
the principle of giving protection to strangers in fuU
force ; for, the French coming with their Indians to the
Piankeshaw town, and demanding that those traders
and their goods should be deUvered up, the Pianke
shaws replied, the English were come there upon their
invitation, and they could not do so base a thing. But,

72 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
the French insisting on it, the Piankeshaws took arms
in defence of their guests, and a nuraber of them, with
their old chief, lost their Uves in the cause ; the French
at last prevaiUng by superior force only.
I wiU not dissemble that numberless stories have
been raised and spread abroad, against not only the
poor wretches that are murdered, but also against the
hundred and forty Christianized Indians, stUl threatened
to be murdered ; all which stories are weU known, by
those who know the Indians best, to be pure inventions,
contrived by bad people, either to excite each other to
join in the murder, or, smce it was coraraitted, to justify
it, and beUeved only by the weak and credulous. I
caU thus pubUcly on the makers and venders of these
accusations to produce their evidence. Let thera satisfy
the pubUc, that even WiU Soc, the most obnoxious of
aU that tribe, was reaUy guUty of those offences against
us, which they lay to his charge. But, if he was, ought
he not to have been fairly tried ? He lived under our
laws, and was subject to them ; he was in our hands,
and might easUy have been prosecuted ; was it EngUsh
justice to condemn and execute him unheard ? Con
scious of his own innocence, he did not endeavour to
hide himself when the door of the workhouse, his sanc
tuary, was breaking open. "I wUl raeet them," says
he, " for they are my brothers." These brothers of his
shot him down at the door, whUe the word "brothers"
was between his teeth.
But if WiU Soc was a bad raan, what had poor old
Shehaes done ? What could he or the other poor old
men and women do ? What had little boys and girls
done ? What could chUdren of a year old, babes at the
breast, what could they do, that they too must be shot
and hatcheted ? Horrid to relate ! And in their par
ents' arms ! This is done by no civiUzed nation m

NARRATIVE OF MASSACRES. 73
Europe. Do we come to America to leam and practise
the manners of barbarians ? But this, barbarians as they
are, they practise against their enemies only, not against
their fiiends. These poor people have been always our
fiiends. Theu- fathers received ours, when strangere here,
with kmdness and hospitaUty. Behold the retum we
have made them ! When we grew more numerous
and powerful, they put themselves under our protection.
See, in the mangled corpses of the last remains of the
tribe, how effectually we have afforded it to them.
Unhappy people ! to have hved in such times, and
by such neighbours. We have seen that they would
have been safer among the ancient heathens, with
whom the rites of hospitaUty were sacred. They would
have been considered as guests of the pubhc, and the
religion of the country would have operated in their
favor. But our fix)ntier people cafl themselves Chris
tians ! They would have been safer, if they had sub
mitted to the Turks ; for ever since ^Mahomet's reproof
to Klaled, even the cruel Turts never kUl prisoners in
cold blood. These were not even prisoners. But
what is the example of Turks to Scripture Christians 1
They would have been safer, though they had been
taken in actual war against the Saracens, if they had
once drank water with them. These were not taken
in war against us, and have drunk with us, and we with
them, for fourscore years. But shaU we compare Sar
acens to Christians?
They would have been safer among the floors in
Spain, though they had been murderers of sons ; if faith
had once been pledged to them, and a promise of pro
tection given. But these have had the faith of the Eng
lish given to them many times by the government, and,
in reliance on that feith, they Uved among us, and gave
VOL. IV. 10 G

74 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
us the opportunity of murdering them. However, what
was honorable in Moors, raay not be a rale to us ; for
we are Christians ! They would have been safer, it
seeras, among Popish Spaniards, even if enemies, and
delivered into their hands by a tempest. These were
not enemies ; they were bom among us, and yet we
have killed thera aU. But shaU we iraitate idolatrous
Papists, we that are enlightened Protestants ? They
would even have been safer araong the Negroes of Af
rica, where at least one manly soul would have been
found, with sense, spirit, and huraanity enough, to stand
in their defence. But shaU white men and Christians
act hke a Pagan Negro ? In short, it appears, that
they would have been safe in any part of the known
world, except in the neighbourhood of the Christian
white savages of Peckstang and DonegaU !
O, ye unhappy perpetrators of this horrid wicked
ness ! reflect a moment on the raischief ye have done,
the disgrace ye have brought on your country, on your
reUgion and your Bible, on your faraUies and chUdren.
Think on the destruction of your captivated country
folks (novv araong the wUd Indians) which probably
raay foUow, in resentment of your barbarity ! Think on
the wrath of the United Five Nations, hitherto our
friends, but now provoked by your murdering one of
their tribes, in danger of becoming our bitter enemies.
Think of the mUd and good government you have so
audaciously insulted ; the laws of your King, your coun
try, and your God, that you have broken ; the infamous
death that hangs over your heads ; for justice, though
slow, wiU corae at last. AU good people everywhere
detest your actions. You have imbrued your hands in
innocent blood ; how wiU you make them clean ? The
dying shrieks and groans of the murdered wiU often
sound in your ears. Their spectres wiU sometimes

NARRATIVE OF MASSACRES. 75
attend you, and affright even your innocent chUdren.
Fly where you wUl, your consciences wiU go with you.
TaUfing in your sleep shall betray you, in the deUrium
of a fever you yourselves shaU make your own wicked
ness known.
One hundred and forty peaceable Indians yet remain
in this government. They have, by Christian mission
aries, been brought over to a lUcing, at least, of our re
Ugion ; some of them lately left their nation, which is
now at war with us, because they did not choose to
join with them in their depredations ; and to show their
confidence in us, and to give us an equal confidence in
them, they have brought and put into our hands their
wives and chUdren. Others have lived long among us
in Northampton county, and most of their chUdren have
been bom there. These are aU now trembling for their
lives. They have been hurried frora place to place for
safety, now concealed in corners, then sent out of the
province, refused a passage through a neighbouring colo
ny, and retumed, not unkindly perhaps, but disgrace-
fuUy, on our hands. O Pennsylvania ! Once renowned
for kindness to strangers, shaU the clamors of a few
mean niggards about the expense of this public hospi
taUty, an expense that wiU not cost the noisy wretches
sixpence a piece, (and what is the expense of the poor
maintenance we afford them, compared to the expense
they raight occasion if in arras against us ? ) shaU so
senseless a clamof, I say, force you to tum out of your
own doors these unhappy guests, who have offended
their own country-folks by their affection for you, who,
confiding in your goodness, have put theraselves under
your protection ? Those whora you have disarraed to
satisfy groundless suspicions, wiU you leave them ex
posed to the armed madmen of your country ? Un
manly men ! who are not ashamed to come with weap-

76 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
ons against the unarmed, to use the sword against
women, and the bayonet against young chUdren ; and
who have already given such bloody proofs of their
inhumanity and cruelty.
Let us rouse ourselves, for shame, and redeera the
honor of our province frora the conterapt of its neigh
bours ; let all good men join heartily and unanimously
in support of the laws, and in strengthenmg the hands
of governraent ; that justice may be done, the wicked
punished, and the innocent protected; otherwise we
can, as a people, expect no blessing frora Heaven ;
there wUl be no security for our persons or properties ;
anarchy and confusion wiU prevaU over aU ; and violence
without judgment dispose of every thing.
When I mention the baseness of the murderers, in the
use they raade of arms, I cannot, I ought not, to forget the
very different behaviour of brave men and true soldiers,
of which this melancholy occasion has afforded us fresh
instances. The Royal Highlanders have, in the course
of this war, suffered as much as any other corps, and
have frequently had their ranks thinned by an Indian
enemy ; yet they did not for this retain a brutal undis
tingulshing resentment against all Indians, friends as
well as foes. But a corapany of them, happening to be
here, when the one hundred and forty poor Indians
above raentioned were thought in too rauch danger to
stay longer in the province, cheerfully undertook to
protect and escort them to New York, which they ex
ecuted (as far as that Government would permit the
Indians to come) with fideUty and honor; and their
captain, Robinson, is justly applauded and honored by
aU sensible and good people, for the care, tenderness,
and humanity, with which he treated those unhappy
fugitives, during their march in this severe season.
General Gage, too, has approved of his officer's

NARRATIVE OF MASSACRES. 77
conduct, and, as I hear, ordered him to remain with
the Indians at Amboy, and continue his protection to
them, till another body of the King's forces could be
sent to relieve his company, and escort their charge
back in safety to PhUadelphia, where his ExceUency
has had the goodness to direct those forces to remain
for some time, under the orders of our governor, for the
security of the Indians ; the troops of this province
being at present necessarily posted on the frontier.
Such just and generous actions endear the miUtary to
the civU power, and impress the minds of aU the dis
cerning with a StiU greater respect for our national gov
ernment. I shaU conclude with observing, that cowards
can handle arms, can strike where they are sure to
meet with no return, can wound, mangle, and murder;
but it belongs to brave men to spare and to protect ;
for, as the poet says,
¦'Mercy still sways the brave."

G*

COOL THOUGHTS ON THE
PRESENT SITUATION
OP OUK
PUBLIC AFFAIRS.
IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND IN THE COUNTRY.
FIRST PRINTED AT PHILADELPHIA, IN THE TEAR 1764.

Dr. Franklin returned frora his first mission to England in
1762, having accomplished the object for which he was sent out.
It was decided, that the proprietary estates in Pennsylvania should
be taxed in due proportion for the defence of the colony. Thus
was taken away a source of contention, which had embroiled the
assembly and governors for many years. Other difficulties, how
ever, soon after arose, in consequence of the opposition of the
governor to the wishes of the assembly. The disputes grew every
day more warm, and the discontents became general throughout
the province. In this state of things, it was proposed to petition
the King to take the government of the colony into his own hands,
after making a proper remuneration to the proprietaries; or, in
other words, to convert the Proprietary Government into a Royal
Government. The following piece was written in defence of this
measure. — Editor.

Pluladelphia, April 12th, 1764.
Sir,
Your apology was unnecessary. It wiU be no
trouble, but a pleasure, if I can give you the satisfac
tion you desire. I shall therefore iramediately coramu
nicate to you my motives fof approving the proposal of

COOL THOUGHTS 79
endeavouring to obtain a Royal Government, m ex
change for this of the Proprietaries ; with such answers
to the objections you mention, as, in my opinion, fuUy
obviate thera.
I do not purpose entering mto the merits of the dis
putes between the proprietaries and the people. I only
observe it as a fact known to us all, that such disputes
there are, and that they have long subsisted, greatly to
the prejudice of the province, clogging and embarras
sing aU the wheels of govemment, and exceedingly ob-
stmcting the pubhc defence, and the measures wisely
concerted by our gracious Sovereign, for the common
security of the colonies. I may add it as another fact,
that we are aU heartily tired of these disputes.
It is very remarkable, that disputes of the sarae kmd
have arisen in all proprietary govemments, and sub
sisted tUl their dissolution. AU were raade unhappy by
them, and found no relief but in recurring finally to the
immediate govemment of the crown. Pennsylvania
and Maryland are the only two of the kind remaining,
and both at this instant agitated by the sarae conten
tions between proprietary interest and power, and pop
ular Uberty. Through these contentions the good peo
ple of that province are rendered equally unhappy with
ourselves, and their proprietary, perhaps, raore so than
ours ; for he has no Quakers in his assembly to saddle
with the blame of those contentions, nor can he justify
himself with the pretence, that turnmg to the church
has made his people his enemies.
Pennsylvania had scarce been settled twenty years,
when these disputes began between the first proprietor
and the original settiers ; they continued, with some
intermissions, during his whole life; his widow took
them up, and continued them after his death. Her

80 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
sons resumed them very early,* and they stiU subsist.
Mischievous and distressing as they have been found to
both proprietors and people, it does not appear that
there is any prospect of their being extinguished, tiU
either the proprietary purse is unable to support them, or
the spirit of the people so broken, that they shaU be wUl
ing to submit to any thmg, rather than continue them.
The first is not very likely to happen, as that immense
estate goes on increasing.
Considering all circumstances, I am at length incUned
to think, that the cause of these miserable contentions
is not to be sought for merely in the depravity and self
ishness of human minds. For, though it is not unUkely
that in these, as weU as m other disputes, there are
fauhs on both sides, every glowing coal being apt to
inflame its opposite ; yet I see no reason to suppose
that aU proprietary rulers are worse men than other
rulers, nor that aU people in proprietary governments are
worse people than those in other governments. I sus
pect, therefore, that the cause is radical, interwoven in
the constitution, and so become the very nature, of pro
prietary governments ; and wiU therefore produce its
effects, as long as such govemments continue. And, as
some physicians say, every animal body brings into the
world among its original stamina the seeds of that dis
ease that shaU finally produce its dissolution ; so the
political body of a proprietary govemment, contains
those convulsive principles that wiU at length destroy it.
I raay not be philosopher enough to develope those
principles, nor would this letter afford me room, if I had
abUities, for such a discussion. The fact seems suffi
cient for our purpose, and the fact is notorious, that such
* See their message to the assembly, in which the right of sitting on
their own adjournments is denied.

COOL THOUGHTS. 81
contentions have been in aU proprietary govemments,
and have brought, or ai-e now bringing, them aU to a
conclusion. I wiU only mention one particular com
mon to them aU. Proprietaries must have a raultitude
of private accounts and deaUngs with alraost aU the
people of their provinces, either for purchase money or
quit-rents. DeaUngs often occasion differences, and
differences produce mutual opmions of injustice. If
proprietaries do not msist on smaU rights, they must
on the whole lose lai-ge suras ; and, if they do insist
on smaU rights, they seera to descend, their dignity
suffers in the opinion of the people, and with it the re
spect necessary to keep up the authority of government
The people, who think themselves injured in point of
property, are discontented with the govei-nment, and
grow turbulent; and the proprietai-ies' usmg their
powers of government to procure for themselves what
they think justice in their points of property, renders
those powers odious. I suspect this has had no smaU
shai-e in producing the confusions incident to those
govei-nments. They appear, however, to be, of aU
otiiers, the most unhappy.
At present we are in a WTetched situation. The
government, that ought to keep aU in order, is itself
weak, and has scarce authority enough to keep the
common peace. Mobs assemble and kUl (we scarce
dare say murder) numbers of innocent people in cold
blood, who were under the protection of the govem
ment. Proclamations are issued to bring the rioters to
justice. Those proclamations ai-e ti-eated with the ut
most indignity and contempt. Not a magistrate dares
wag a finger towards discovering or apprehending the
deUnquents, (we must not caU them murderers.) They
assemble again, and with ai-ms in theu- hands approach
the capital. The government ti-uckles, condescends to
VOL. IV. 1 1

82 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
cajole them, and drops aU prosecution of their crimes ;
whUst honest citizens, threatened in their lives and
fortunes, flee the province, as having no confidence in
the public protection. We are daily threatened with
more of these tumults; and the govemment, which in
its distress called aloud on the sober inhabitants to
come with arms to its assistance, now sees those who
afforded that assistance daily UbeUed, abused, and men
aced by its partisans fof so doing ; whence it has little
reason to expect such assistance on another occasion.
In this situation, what is to be done? By what
means is that harmony between the two branches of
government to be obtained, without which the internal
peace of the province cannot be weU secured ? One
project is, to tum aU Quakers out of the asserably ; or,
by obtaining more members for the back counties, to
get a majority in who are not Quakers. This, perhaps,
is not very difficult to do ; and more members for those
counties raay, on other accounts, be proper ; but I much
question if it would answer this end, as I see among the
merabers, that those who are not Quakers, and even
those from the back counties, are as hearty and unani
mous in opposing what they think proprietary injustice,
as the Quakers themselves, if not more so. ReUgion
has happUy nothing to do with our present differences,
though great pains is taken to lug it into the squabble.
And even were the Quakers extirpated, I doubt wheth
er the proprietaries, whUe they pursue the same meas
ures, would be a whit more at their ease.
Another project is, to choose none for assembly
men but such as are friends to the proprietaries. The
nuraber of members is not so great, but that I beUeve
this scheme may be practicable, if you look for repre
sentatives among proprietary officers and dependants.
Undoubtedly it would produce great harmony between

COOL THOUGHTS. 83
governor and assembly ; but how would both of them
agree with the people ? Their principles and conduct
must greatly change, if they would be elected a second
year. But that might be needless. Six parts in seven
agreeing with the govemor, could make the House per
petual. This, however, would not probably estabUsh
peace in the province. The quarrel the people now
have with the proprietaries, would then be with both
the proprietaries and assembly. There seems to re
main, then, but one remedy for our evils, a remedy
approved by experience, and which has been tried
with success by other provinces ; I mean that of an
immediate Royal Government, without the intervention
of proprietary powers, which, lUte unnecessary springs
and movements in a machine are so apt to produce
disorder. It is not to be expected that the proposal of a change
Uke this, should meet with no objections. Those you
have mentioned to me, conceming Uberty of conscience
and the privUeges of Dissenters, are, however, not dif
ficult to answer; as they seem to arise merely from
want of information or acquaintance with the state
of other colonies, before and after such changes had
been made in their govemment. Carolina and the
Jerseys were formerly proprietary governments, but
now immediately under the crown; and then- cases
had many circumstances simUar to ours. Of the first
we are told;
" There was a natural infirmity in the poUcy of their
charter, which was the source pf many of the misfor
tunes of the colony, without any unputation on the no
ble famUies concemed. For the grantees [the proprie
tors], being eight in number, and not incorporated, and
no provision being made to conclude the whole num
ber by the voices of the majority, there could not be

84 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
timely measures always agreed on, which were proper
or necessary for the good government of the plantation.
In the mean time, the inhabitants grew unruly and
quarrelled about reUgion and politics ; and whUe there
was a raere anarchy araong thera, they were exposed
to the attacks and insults of their Spanish and Indian
neighbours, whom they had impradently provoked and
injured ; and, as if they had conspired agamst the
growth of the colony, they repealed their laws for Ub
erty of conscience, though the majority of the people
were Dissenters, and had resorted thither under the
public faith for a complete indulgence, which they con
sidered as part of their Magna Charta. Within these
four years an end was put to their sorrows ; for about
that time, the lords proprietors and the planters, (who
had long been heartily tired of each other) were, by the
interposition of the Legislature, fairly divorced for ever,
and the property of the whole vested in the crown." *
And the abovementioned injudicious and unjust act
against the privUeges of Dissenters, was repealed by
the King in councU.
Another historian teUs us ; " Their intestine distrac
tions, and their foreign wars, kept the colony so low,
that an act of ParUament, if possible to prevent the
last ruinous consequences of these divisions, put the
province under the immediate care and inspection of
the crown." t
And Governor Johnson, at his first meeting the as
sembly there, after the change, teUs them ;
" His Majesty, out of his great goodness and fatherly
care of you, and at the earnest request and sohcitation
* " New and Accurate Account of Carolina," p. 14 ; printed at Lon
don, 1733.
f " Account of the British Settlements in America,'' p. 233, concerning
Carolina.

COOL THOUGHTS. 85
of yourselves, has been graciously pleased, at a great
expense, to purchase seven eighths of the late lords
proprietaries' charter, whereby you are become under
his immediate govemment, a blessing and security we
have been long praying for, and soUcitous of ; the good
effects of which we daUy experience by the safety we
enjoy, as weU in our trade, by the protection of his
ships of war, as by land, by an independent company
maintained purely for our safety and encourageraent.
The taking off the enumeration of rice is a pecuUar
favor," &c.*
By these accounts we learn, that the people of that
province, far from losing by the change, obtained inter
nal security and external protection, both by sea and
land ; the Dissenters a restoration and estabUshment of
their privUeges, which the proprietary governraent at
terapted to deprive thera of; and the whole province,
favors in point of trade with respect to their grand
staple comraodity, which from that time they were
allowed to carry directly to foreign ports, without being
obUged, as before, to enter in England.
With regard to the neighbouring province of New
Jersey, we find, in a representation from the Board of
Trade to the crown, dated "Whitehall, October 2d,
1701," the following account of it, namely; "That the
inhabitants, in a petition to his Majesty the last year,
coraplained of several grievances they lay under, by the
neglect or misraanageraent of the proprietors of that
province, or their agents ; unto which they also added,
that during the whole time the said proprietors have
governed, or pretended to govern, that province, they
have never taken care to preserve or defend the same
fi-om the Indians or other enemies, by sending or
• Historical Register, No. 63, for ?731.
VOL. IV. H

86 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
providing any arms, ammunition, or stores, as they
ought to have done ; and the said inhabitants thereupon
humbly prayed, his ^Majesty would be pleased to com
missionate some fit person, to be govemor over them.
That it has been represented to us by several letters,
memorials, and other papers, as weU from the inhab
itants as proprietors, that they are at present in confu
sion and anarchy, and that it is much to be appre
hended, lest by the heats of the parties that are
amongst them, diey should fafl into such violences, as
may endanger the Uves of many persons, and destroy
the colony."*
In consequence of these disorders, and petitions from
the people, the proprietors were obliged to surrender
that govemment to the crown; Queen Anne then
reigning, who, of afl our crowned heads since the Rev
olution, was by far the least favorable to Dissenters ;
yet her instraction s to Lord Cornbury, her first gover
nor, were express and fiJl in their favor, viz.
"Instruction 61st. You are to permit a Uberty of con
science to afl persons (except Papists), so that they
may be contented with a quiet and peaceable enjoyment
of the same, not giving offence or scandal to the gov
ernment." "Instruction 52d. And whereas we have been in
formed that divers of our good subjects inhabiting
those parts, do make a reUgious scrapie of swearing,
and by reason of their refusing to take an oath in any
court of justice and other places, are or may be Uable
to many inconveniences, our wifl and pleasure is, that,
in order to then- ease in what they conceive to be
matter of conscience, so far as may be consistent with

• " Giants and Concessions, and Original Constitntioiis of New Jer-
Ecy," printed at Philadelpliia by W. Bndfbtd, p. G06.

COOL THOUGHTS. 87
good order and govemment, you talie care that an act
be passed in the general assembly of our said provmce,
to the Uke effect as that passed here in the seventh and
eighth yeai-s of his late Majesty's reign, entitled, 'An
Act, that the solemn affirmation and declaration of the
people called Quakers, shafl be accepted instead of an
oath in the usual form ; ' and that the same be trans
mitted to us, and to our Commissioners for Trade and
Plantations, as before directed.
"Instruction 53d And whereas we have been farther
informed, that in the settiement of the government of
our said province, it may so happen, that the number of
inhabitants fitly quaUfied to serve in our council, in the
general asserably, and in other places of trust and profit
there, wUl be but sraaU ; it is therefore our wiU and
pleasure, that such of the said people caUed Quakers,
as shaU be found capable of any of those places and
eraployraents, and accordingly be elected or appointed
to serve therein, raay, upon their taking and signing the
declaration of allegiance to us, in the form used by the
same people here in England, together with a solemn
declaration for the true discharge of their respective
trusts, be admitted by you into any of the said places
or employraents," &c.*
And the sarae privUeges have been, and stiU are,
fuUy enjoyed in that province by Dissenters of all
kinds; the council, asserably, and magistracy being
fiUed with EpiscopaUans, Presbyterians, and Quakers,
promiscuously, without the least distinction or exclusion
of any. We may farther remark, on the above report
of the Board of Trade, that the defence of a proprie
tary province was originally looked upon as the duty
of the proprietaries, who received the quit-rents, and
* " Grants and Concessions," &c., p. 633.

88 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
had the eraoluraents of govemment ; whence it was,
that in former wars, when arms, araraunition, cannon,
and raUitary stores of aU kinds, have been sent by the
crown to aU the colonies under its iraraediate govern
ment, whose situation and circurastances required it,
nothing of the kind has been sent to proprietary gov
emments. And to this day, neither Pennsylvania nor
Maryland have received any such assistance from the
crown ; nor did Carolina, tiU it became a King's gov
ernment. Massachusetts Bay, in New England, lost its charter
in the latter end of King Charles's reign, when the
charters of London and aU the corporations in England
were seized. At the Revolution the crown gave them
a better constitution, which they enjoy to this day.
No advantages were taken against the privUeges of the
people, though then universally Dissenters. The sarae
privileges are enjoyed by the Dissenters in New Harap
shire, which has been a royal govemment ever since
1679, when the freeholders and inhabitants petitioned
to be taken under the immediate protection of the
crown. Nor is there existing, in any of the American
colonies, any test imposed by Great Britain, to exclude
Dissenters from offices. In sorae colonies, indeed,
where the Episcopalians, and in others the Dissenters,
have been predorainant, they have made partial laws
in favor of their respective sects, and laid some diffi
culties on the others ; but those laws have been gener
ally, on complaint, repealed at home.
It is farther objected, you teU me, that "if we have
a royal government, we must have with it a bishop and
a spiritual court, and must pay tithes to support an
Episcopal clergy." A bishop for America has been
long talked of in England, and probably, from the ap
parent necessity of the thing, wiU sooner or later be

COOL THOUGHTS. 89
appointed ; because a voyage to England for ordination
is extremely inconvenient and expensive to the young
clergy educated in America ; and the Episcopal church
es and clergy in these colonies cannot so conveniently
be governed and regulated by a bishop residing in
England, as by one residing among those committed
to his care. But this event wiU happen neither sooner
nor later for our being or not bemg under a royal gov
ernment. And the spiritual court, if the bishop should
hold one, can have authority only with his own peo
ple, if with them, since it is not likely that any law
of this province wiU ever be made to submit the in
habitants to it, or oblige them to pay tithes; and
without such law, tithes can no more be demanded
here than they are in any other colony ; and there is
not a single instance of tithes demanded or paid in any
part of Araerica. A raaintenanee has, indeed, been
established m some colonies, for the Episcopal clergy ;
as in Virginia, a royal governraent, and in Maryland, a
proprietary govemment. But this was done by acts of
their own, which they were not obliged to make, if they
did not choose it.
That " we shaU have a standing army to maintain,"
is another bugbear raised to terrify us from endeavour
ing to obtain a King's governraent. It is very possi
ble, that the crown raay think it necessary to keep
troops in Araerica henceforward, to raaintain its con
quests and defend the colonies, and that the ParUa
ment may estabUsh some revenue arising out of the
Araerican trade, to be applied towards supporting
those troops. It is possible, too, that we may, after a
few years' experience, be generaUy very weU satisfied
with that raeasure, frora the steady protection it wUl
afford us against foreign enemies, and the security of
internal peace among ourselves, without the expense or
VOL. IV. 12 H*

go FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
trouble of a mUitia. But assure yourself, my fiiend,
that, whether we Uke it or not, our contmuing under a
proprietary government wUl not prevent it, nor our
coraing under a royal government promote and for
ward it, any raore than they would prevent or procure
rain or sunshine.
The other objections you have coramunicated to me,
are, that, "in case of a change of proprietary for royal
govemment, our judges and other officers wUl be ap
pointed and sent us from England; we must have a
legislative councU ; our assembly wUl lose the right of
sitting on their own adjoumments; we shaU lose the
right of choosing sheriffs, and annual assembUes, and
of voting by baUot." I shaU not enter into the question,
whether judges from England would probably be of
advantage or disadvantage to our law proceedings.
It is needless, as the power of appointing thera is
given to the govemor here, by a law that has received
the royal assent, the "Act for estabUshing Courts."
The King's governor only coraes in place of a proprie
tary governor; he must (if the change is made) take
the govemment as he finds it. He can alter nothing.
The same answer serves for aU the subsequent objec
tions. A legislative councU under proper regulations
might perhaps be an araendraent of our constitution,
but it cannot take place without our consent, as our
constitution is otherwise estabUshed ; nor can our as
sembly lose the right of sitting on their own adjourn
ments ; nor the people that of choosing sheriffs, and
annual assembUes, or of voting by baUot ; these rights
being aU confirmed by acts of assembly assented to by
ihe crown; I raean the acts entitled, "An Act to as
certain the number of Members of Assembly and to
regulate the Elections," and " An Act for regulating the
Elections of Sheriffs and Coroners;" both passed in
the fourth of Queen Anne.

COOL THOUGHTS. 91
I know it has been asserted, to intimidate us, that
those acts, so far from being approved by the crown,
were never presented. But I can assure you, from
good authority, that they, with forty-eight others, (aU
passed at the same time by Govemor Evans,) were
duly laid before the Queen in councU; who, on the
28th of April, 1709, referred the same to the Board
of Trade. The Board, on the Sth of September,
1709, reported upon the said fifty acts, that they had
considered the same, and had taken the opinion of the
attorney-general upon several of them m point of law ;
and they represented against six of them, as unfit to
be continued in force ; but, as to the other forty-four,
the tities of which are given at large, and among them
the two raaterial acts above mentioned, they had no
objection to the sarae. Whereupon there issued two
orders of the Queen in council, both dated at the Court
at Windsor, the 24th of October, 1709 ; one repealing
the six laws objected to, and the other approving the
remaining forty-four.
This is a fact that you raay depend upon. There is
therefore nothing now that can deprive us of those
privileges, but an act of ParUament ; and we may rely
on the united justice of King, Lords, and Commons, that
no such act wUl ever pass, whUe we continue loyal and
dutiful subjects. An act of assembly, indeed, raay give
them up ; but I trust, urgent as they are for admission,
we shaU never see proprietary friends enough in the
House to make that detestable sacrifice.
In fine, it does not appear to me, that this change of
govemment can possibly hurt us; and I see many
advantages that may flow from it. The expression,
change of government, seems, indeed, to be too exten
sive ; and is apt to give the idea of a general and total
change of our laws and constitution. It is rather and

92 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
only a change of goveimor, that is, instead of self-
interested proprietaries, a gracious ICing. His Majesty,
who has no views but for the good of the people, wiU
thenceforth appoint the govemor, who, unshackled by
proprietary instructions, wiU be at Uberty to join with
the assembly in enacting wholesome laws. At present,
when the King requires suppUes of his faitliful subjects,
and they are willing and desirous to grant them, the
proprietaries intervene and say, "unless our private
interests in certain particulars are served, nothing shall
be done." This insolent tribunitial veto has long en
cumbered aU our public affairs, and been productive of
many raischiefs. By the measure proposed, not even
the proprietaries can justly complain of any injury.
The being obliged to fulfil a fair contract is no injury.
The crown wiU be under no difficulty in completmg
the old contract made with their father, as there needs
no application to Parliament for the necessary sum,
smce half the quit-rents of the lower counties belongs
to the ICing, and the many years' arrears in the pro
prietaries' hands, who are the coUectors, must vastly
exceed what they have a right to demand, or any
reason to expect.*
On the whole, I cannot but think, the more the
proposal is considered, of an humble petition io ihe
King to take this province under his Majesty's im
mediate protection and government, the more unani
raously we shaU go into it. We are chiefly people
of three countries. British spirits can no longer bear
the treatment they have received, nor wiU they put
on the chains prepared for them by a feUow subject.
And the Irish and Germans have felt too severely
• In 1722, the arrears then in their hands wero computed at £ 18,000
•iterling.

PETITION TO THE KING. 93
the oppi-ossions of hai-d-heai-ted landloi-ds and ai-bitrary
prmces, to wish to soo, iu the proprietai-ies of Penn-
syhivnia, botli the one mid the other united.
I ara, with much lospoct. Sir,
Your most obedient humble ser^imt,
A. B.

PETITION TO THE KING, .
FOR CH.V.NGIXO THE PROPRIETARY GOVERXMEXT OF rE.XXS^t.-
V.VM.V I.NTO A ROYAL GOVERNMENT.

Drafted by Dr. Franklin, and adopted by the Assembly of
Pennsylvania, in 17G4. — Editor.

To THE KlXO's MOST EXCELLENT MaJESTT, IN CoUNCII.,
The Petition of tho Roprosontativos of the Freemen
of the Pix>vinco of Pcnnsyl\-ania, m Gtenei-al Assombly
mot. ]Most humbly showeth ;
That the government of this province by proprieta
ries ha5 by long oxporiouce been found incouvonient,
attended with ni;uiy dilliouhios and obstructions to your
]\Iajo5ty's soiA ioo. aiising from the intervention of pro
prietary private inteivst in pubUc affoirs and disputes
conceming thoso uuoi-osts.
That the siud proprietary govonimont is weak, unable
to support its own autiiority. and maintain the com
mon internal peace of the p^t^^ iiico ; great riots have
lately arisen thcroin, armed mobs maixJimg from place
to place, and committmg violent outrages and insults

94 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
on the government with hnpunity, to th« great terror
of your Majesty's subjects. And these evUs are not
Ukely to receive any remedy here, the continual dis
putes between the proprietaries and people, and their
mutual jealousies and disUkes preventing.
We do, therefore, most humbly pray, that your Maj
esty would be graciously pleased to resume the gov
emment of this province, making such compensation to
the proprietaries for the same as to your Majesty's wis
dom and goodness shaU appear just and equitable, and
permitting your dutiful subjects therein to enjoy under
your Majesty's more immediate care and protection,
the privUeges that have been granted to them by and
under your royal predecessors. Bv order of the House.

REMARKS
ON A PARTICULAR MILITIA BILL REJECTED BY THE
PROPRIETOR'S DEPUTY, OR GOVERNOR.
TO THE FREEMEN OF PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia, September 28th, 1764.
Gentlemen,
Your desire of knowing how the mUitia bUl came
to faU, in the last assembly, shaU immediately be com
pUed with.
As the govemor pressed hard for a mUitia law, to
secure the intemal peace of the province, and the peo
ple of this country had not been accustomed to mUitia
service, the House, to make it more generaUy agree
able to the freeholders, formed the bUl so that they
might have some share in the election of the officers ;
to secure thera from havmg absolute strangers set over
them, or persons generaUy disagreeable.
This was no more, than that every company should
choose, and recommend to the govemor, tliree persons
for each office of c£^tain, heutenant, and ensign ; out
of which three the govemor was to commission one
.that he thought most proper, or which he pleased, to
be the officer. And that the captains, Ueutenants, and
ensigns, so commissioned by the govemor, should, in
theu- respective regiments, choose and recommend three
persons for each office of colonel, Ueutenant-colonel,
and major; out of which three the govemor was to
commission one, whichever he pleased, to each of the
said offices.

96 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
The governor's amendment to the biU in this partic
ular was, to strike out wholly this privilege of the
people, and take to hiraself the sole appointment of afl
the officers.
The next amendment was, to aggravate and enhance
aU the fines. A fine that the assembly had made one
hundred pounds, and thought heavy enough, the gov
ernor required to be three hundred pounds. What
they had raade fifty pounds, he required to be one
hundred and fifty. These were fines on the coramis
sioned officers for disobedience to his commands ; but
the non-commissioned officers, or comraon soldiers,
whora, for the sarae offence, the assembly proposed to
fine at ten pounds, the governor insisted should be
fined fifty pounds.
These fines, and some others to be mentioned here
after, the asserably thought ruinously high. But when,
in a subsequent araendraent, the govemor would, for
offences among the miUtia, take away the trial by jury
in the comraon courts; and required, that the trial
should be by a court-martial, coraposed of officers of
his own sole appointing, who should have power of sen
tencing even to death ; the House could by no means
consent thus to give up their constituents' Uberty, es
tate, and life itself, into the absolute power of a pro
prietary governor ; and so the biU faUed.
That you may be assured I do not misrepresent this
matter, I shaU give you the last-mentioned araendraent
(so caUed) at fuU length ; and for the truth and ex
actness of my copy, I dare appeal to Mr. Secretary
Shippen. The words of the bUl, page 43, were, " Every such
person so offending, being legaUy convicted thereof,"
&,c. By the words legally convicted was intended a
conviction after legal trial, in the comraon course of the

REMARKS ON THE MILITIA BILL. 97
laws of the land. But the governor required this ad
dition immediately to foUow the words "convicted
thereof," namely, "by a court-martial, shafl suffer
death, or such other punishment as such court, by
their sentence or decree, shafl think proper to inflict
and pronounce. And be it farther enacted by the au
thority aforesaid, that when and so often as it raay be
necessary, the governor and coraraander-in-chief for
the tirae being shafl appoint and coraraissionate, under
the great seal of this province, sixteen commissioned
officers in each regiraent ; with authority and power
to them, or any thirteen of thera, to hold courts-raartial,
of whora a field officer shall always be one, and pres
ident of the said court ; and such courts-raartial shafl
and are hereby erapowered to adrainister an oath to any
witness, in order to the examination or trial of any of
the offences, which by this act are made cognizable
in such courts, and shafl dome before them. Provided
always, that, in afl trials by a court-martial by virtue of
this act, every officer present at such trial, before any
proceedings be had therein, shafl take an oath upon the
holy Evangelists, before one justice of the peace in the
county where such court is held ; who are hereby au
thorized to adrainister the same, in the foUowing words,
that is to say; 'I, A B, do swear, that I wiU duly
administer justice according to evidence, and to the
directions of aft act entitled. An Act for forming and
regulating the militia qf the province of Pennsylvania,
without partiahty, favor, or affection ; and that I wUl
not divulge the sentence of the court, until it shafl be
approved of by the govemor or commander-in-chief of
this province for the time being ; neither wUl I, upon
any account, at any time whatsoever, disclose or dis
cover ihe vote or opinion of any particular member of
the court-martial. So help rae God.' And no sentence
VOL. IV. 13 I

98 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
of death, or other sentence, shafl be given against any
offender, but by the concurrence of nine of the officers
so sworn. And no sentence passed against any offen
der by such court-raartial shall be put in execution,
untU report be raade of the whole proceedings to the
governor or coraraander-in-chief of this province for the
time being, and his directions signified thereupon."
It is observable here, that, by the coraraon course of
justice, a raan is to be tried by a jury of his neighbours
and feUows, erapanelled by a sheriff, in whose ap
pointment the people have a choice. The prisoner too
has a right to challenge twenty of the panel, without
giving a reason, and as many more as he can give rea
sons for challenging ; and before he can be convicted,
the jury are to be unanimous ; they are aU to agree
that he is guilty, and are therefore all accountable for
their verdict. But, by this amendraent, the jury (if they
may be so called) are aU officers of the govemor's sole
appointing ; and not one of them can be chaUenged ;
and, though a comraon miUtia-man is to be tried, no
coramon mUitia-raan shaU be of that jury ; and, so far
frora requiring aU to agree, a bare raajority shafl be
sufficient to condemn you. And, lest that raajority
should be under any check or restraint, frora an appre
hension of what the world might think or say of the
severity or injustice of their sentence, an oath is to be
taken, never to discover the vote or opinion of any par
ticular member.
These are some of the chains atterapted to be
forged for you by the proprietary faction ! Who ad
vised the governor is not difficult to know. They are
the very men, who now clamor at the assembly for a
proposal of bringing the trial of a particular murder to
this county from another, where it was not thought safe
for any man to be either juryman or witness, and call

REMARKS ON THE MILITIA BILL. 99
it disfmnchidng the people, who are now bawUng
about the constitution, and pretending vast concern for
your liberties. In I'efusing you tlie least means of
recommending, or expressing your regard for, persons
to be placed over you as officers, and who wei-e thus to
be made your judges in life and estate, they have not
regarded the example of the King, our wise as well as
kmd master ; who, in all his requisitions made to the
colonies, of i-msing tix)ops for their defence, directed, that,
" the better to fedhtate the important service, the com
missions should be given to such as, ftom their weight
and credit with the people, may be best enabled to
effectuate the levies." * In establishing a militia for the
defence of the province, how could the "weight and
credit" of men with the people be better discovered,
than by tlie mode that bUl directed, namely, by a ma
jority of those, that were to be commanded, nominating
three for each office to die governor, of which three
he m%ht take the one he liked best 1
However, the courts-martial bemg established, and
all of us thus put into his Honor's absolute power, the
govemor goes on to enhance the fiines and penalties.
Thus, in page 49 of the bill, where tlie assembly had
proposed the fine to be ten shiUings, the governor re
quired it to be ten pounds. In page 50, where a fine
of five pounds was mentioned, the govemor's amend
ment requffed it to be made fifty pounds. And, in
page 44, where the assembly had said, "shafl fOTfdt
and pay any sum, not exceeding five pounds," the
governor's amendment says, " shafl suffer death, or such
other punisliment as shall, according to the nature <rf
the ofllence, be inflicted by the sentence of a court-
martial." * Se« 8eci«tuy of Ststte^ Lettiers in the pnnted Votes.

100 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
The assembly's refiismg to admit of these amend
ments m that bUl, is one of their offences against the
lord proprietary, for which that faction are now abus
ing them in both the languages* of the province, with
afl the virulence that reverend maUce can dictate ; en
forced by numberless barefaced falsehoods, that only
the most dishonest and base would dare to invent, and
none but the most weak and credulous can possibly
beheve.
Veritas.

* That is, tiie English and German langnages, both of vhich vere used
in Pennsylvania. — Editob.

PREFACE

TOTHE
SPEECH OF JOSEPH GALLOWAY,
ON I'HE SUBJECT OF A PETITION TO THE KING FOR CHANGING
THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA TO A
ROYAL GOVERNMENT.

While the petition to the King for a royal government in Penn
sylvania was under discussion in the assembly, Mr. John Dickinson
made a speech against it, which was printed in a pamphlet, with
a long preface by another hand. Mr. Galloway published a reply,
entitled, " The Speech of Joseph Galloway, One of the Members
for Philadelphia County, in Answer to the Speech of John Dickin
son, delivered in the House of Assembly of the Province of Penn
sylvania, May 24th, 1764." To this reply was prefixed the follow
ing Preface, written by Dr. Franklin. For sarcastic humor, point,
and strength of argument, it is one of the best of his performances.
The contest created a good deal of heat between the parties. Mr.
Dickinson wrote an answer to Galloway's Speech, in which he de
fended himself ably ; but his language was too strongly marked with
asperity and personal invective. — Editor.

It is not merely because Mr. Dickinson's speech
was ushered into the world by a preface, that one is
made to this of Mr. Galloway. But, as in that preface
a nuraber of aspersions were thrown on our assembUes,
and their proceedings grossly misrepresented, it was
thought necessary to wipe those aspersions off by some
proper animadversions, and, by a true state of facts, to
rectify those misrepresentations.

I*

102 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
The preface begins with saying, that "Govemor
Denny (whose administration vnU never be mentioned
but with disgrace in the annals of this province) was
mduced by considerations, to which the world is now
no stranger, to pass sundry acts," &c., thus insinuating,
that by some unusual base bargain, secretly raade but
afterwards discovered, he was induced to pass them.
It is fit, therefore, without undertaking to justify afl
that governor's administration, to show what those con
siderations were. Ever since the revenue of the quit-
rents first, and after that the revenue of tavern-Ucenses,
were settied irrevocably on our proprietors and gover
nors, they have looked on those incomes as their proper
estate, for which they were under no obUgations to the
people ; and when they afterwards concmred in passing
any useful laws, they considered them as so many jobs,
for which they ought to be particularly paid. Hence
arose the custom of presents twice a year to the gov
ernors, at the close of each session in which laws were
passed, given at the time of passing ; they usuafly
amounted to a thousand pounds per annura. But when
the governors and asserabUes disagreed, so that laws
were not passed, the presents were withheld. When
a disposition to agree ensued, there soraetiraes stUl re
mained sorae diffidence. The govemors would not pass
the laws that were wanted, without being sure of the
money, even aU that they caUed their arrears ; nor the
assembUes give the raoney without being sure of the
laws. Thence the necessity of some private confer
ence, in which mutual assurances of good faith might be
received and given, that the transactions should go
hand in hand. What narae the impartial reader wUl
give to this kind of commerce, I cannot say. To me
It appears an extortion of more money from the people,
for that to which they had before an undoubted right.

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 103
both by the constitution and by purchase; but there
was no other shop they could go to for the commod
ity they wanted, and they were obliged to comply.
Time established the custom, and made it seera hon
est ; so that our governors, even those of the most
undoubted honor, have practised it.
Governor Thoraas, after a long misunderstanding
with the assembly, went raore openly to work with
thera in raanaging this coraraerce, and they with him.
The fact is curious, as it stands recorded in the votes ..
of 1742-3. Sundry bills sent up to the govemom
for his assent had lain long in his hands, without any
answer. January 4th, the House "Ordered, That
Thomas Leech and Edward Wamer wait upon the
governor, and acquaint hira, that the House had long
waited for his result on the bUls that lie before hira,
and desire to know when they may expect it." The
gentiemen return and report, " That they waited upon
the governor, and delivered the raessage of the House
according to order ; and that the governor was pleased
to say, ' He had had the biUs long under consideration,
and waited the result of the House.'" The House
weU understood this hint ; and immediately resolved '
into a comraittee of the whole House, to take what was
called the governors support into consideration, in which
they raade (the minutes say) some progress ; and the
next moming, it appears, that that progress, whatever
it was, had been communicated to him, for he sent
thera down this raessage by his secretary ; " Mr. Speak
er, The governor coramands rae to acquaint you, that,
as he has received assurances of a good disposition in the
House, he thinks it incurabent on hira to show ihe like
on his part ; and therefore sends down the bUls, which
lay before hira, without any amendment."
As this raessage only showed a good disposition, but

104 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
contained no promise to pass the bifls, the House seem
to have had their doubts ; and, therefore, Febmary 2d,
when they came to resolve, on the report of the grand
comraittee, to give the money, they guarded their
resolves very cautiously, to wit, " Resolved, That, on
the passage of such bills as now Ue before the gov
emor, (the naturaUzation bUl, and such other bUls as
may be presented to him during this sitting,) there be
paid him the sum of five hundred pounds. Resolved
»also, that, on the passage of such bUls as now Ue be-
libre the governor, (the naturalization bUl, and such
other biUs as raay be presented to him this sitting,)
there be paid to the govemor the further sum of one
thousand pounds, for the current year's support ; and
that orders be drawn on the treasurer and tmstees of
the loan-office, pursuant to these resolves." The or
ders were accordingly drawn ; mth which being ac
quainted, he appointed a time to pass the bUls ; which
was done with one hand, whUe he received the orders
in the other; and then, with the utmost poUteness he
thanked the House for the fifteen hundred pounds, as if
it had been a pure free gift, and a mere mark of their
respect and affection. " I thank you. Gentlemen," says
he, "for this .instance of your regard, which I am
the raore pleased with, as it gives an agreeable pros
pect of future harmony between me and the represen
tatives of the people."
This, reader, is an exact counterpart of the transac
tion with Govemor Denny ; except that Denny sent
word to the House, that he would pass the bUls before
they voted the support. And yet here was no propri
etary clamor about bribery, &,c. And why so 1 Why,
at that time, the proprietary famUy, by virtue of a secret
bond they had obtained of the governor at his appoint
ment, were to share with him the sums so obtained of
the people.

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 105
This reservation of the proprietaries they were at that
time a Uttie ashamed of, and therefore such bonds
were then to be secrets. But, as in every kind of sin-
nmg frequent repetition lessens shame and increases
boldness, we find the proprietaries ten years afterwards
openly insisting on these advantages to themselves,
over and above what was paid to their deputy;
" Wherefore," say they,* " on this occasion it is neces
sary that we inform the people, through yourselves,
their representatives, that, as by the constitution our
consent is necessary to their laws, at the same tune
that they have an undoubted right to such as are
necessary for the defence and real service of the coun
try, so it wifl tend the better to facilitate the several
matters, which must be transacted with us, for their
representatives to show a regard to us and our interest."
This was in their answer to the representation of the
assembly, (Votes, December, 1754, p. 48,) on the jus
tice of their contributing to Indian expenses, which
they had refused. And on this clause the coraraittee
make the following remark; "They tefl us, their con
sent is necessary to our laws, and that it wifl tend the
better to faciUtate the matters which must be transacted
with them, for the representatives to show a regard to
their interest', that is, (as we understand it,) though
the proprietaries have a deputy here, supported by the
province, who is, or ought to be, fully empowered to
pass aU laws necessary for the service of the country,
yet, before we can obtain such laws, we must faciUtate
their passage by paying money for the proprietaries,
which they ought to pay, or in some shape make it
their particular interest to pass thera. We hope, how
ever, that, if this practice has ever been begun, it wifl
* That is, to the assembly. — B. V.
VOL. IV. 14

106 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
never be continued in this provmce ; and that, since,
as this very paragraph aUows, we have an undoubted
right to such laws, we shaU always be able to obtain
them from the goodness of our sovereign, without go
ing to market for them to a subject." Time has shown
that those hopes were vain ; they have been obUged to
go to that market ever since, directly or indirectly, or
go without their laws. The practice has continued, and
wiU continue, as long as the proprietary government
subsists, intervening between the crown and the people.
Do not, ray courteous reader, take pet at our propri
etary constitution for these our bargain and sale pro
ceedings in legislation. It is a happy country where
justice, and what was your own before, can be had for
ready money. It, is another addition to the value of
money, and of course another spur to industry. Every
land is not so blessed. There are countries where the
princely proprietor clairas to be lord of aU property,
where what is your own shaU not only be wrested from
you, but the money you give to have it restored shafl
be kept with it; and your offering so rauch, being a
sign of your being too rich, you shafl be plundered of
every thing that remained. These tiraes are not corae
here yet. Your present proprietors have never been
raore unreasonable hitherto, than barely to insist on
your fighting in defence of their property, and paying
the expense yourselves ; or if their estates must, ah !
must, be taxed towards it, that the best of their lands
shafl be taxed no higher than the worst of yours.
Pardon this digression, and I return to Govemor
Denny. But first let me do Governor HamUton the
justice to observe, that, whether from the uprightness
of his own disposition, or from the odious Ught the
practice had been set in on Denny's account, or from
both, he did not attempt these bargains, but passed

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 107
such laws as he thought fit to pass, without any pre
vious stipulation of pay for them. But then, when he
saw the assembly tardy in the payraent he expected,
and yet caUing upon him stUl to pass raore laws, he
openly put thera in mind of the money, as a debt due
to him frora custora. "In the course of the present
year," says he, in his message of July Sth, 1763, "a
great deal of pubUc business hath been transacted by
me, and I beUeve as many useful laws enacted, as by
any of my predecessors in the sarae space of time;
yet I have not understood that any aUowance hath
hitherto been made to me for my support, as hath
been customary in this provmce."
The House, having then some bUls in hand, took the
matter into iraraediate consideration, and voted him five
hundred pounds, for which an order or certificate was
accordingly drawn ; and on the sarae day the Speaker,
after the House had been with the governor, reported.
"That his Honor had been pleased to give his assen-
to the biUs, by enacting the sarae into laws. And Mr.
Speaker farther reported, that he had then, in behalf of
the House, presented their certificate of five hundred
pounds to the Govemor; who was pleased to say, he
was obUged to the House for the same." Thus we see
the practice of purchasing and paying for laws is inter
woven with our proprietary constitution, used m the
best times, and under the best govemors. And yet,
alas, poor asserably! how wiU you steer your brittie
bark between these rocks 1 If you pay ready money for
your laws, and those laws are not Uked by the propri
etaries, you are charged with bribery and cormption ;
if you wait a while before you pay, you are accused of
detaining the govemor's customary right, and dunned
as a negUgent or dishonest debtor, that refuses to dis
charge a just debt.

108 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
But Governor Denny's case, I shafl be told, differs
from all these ; for the acts he was induced to pass
were, as the Prefacer teUs us, "contrary to his duty,
and to every tie of honor and justice." Such is the
imperfection of our language, and perhaps of all other
languages, that, notwithstanding we are fumished with
dictionaries innumerable, we cannot precisely know the
import of words, unless we know of what party the
man is that uses them. In the raouth of an assembly
man, or true Pennsylvanian, " contrary to his duty and
to every tie of honor and justice," would mean, the
governor's long refusal to pass laws, however just and
necessary, for taxing the proprietary estate ; a refusal
contrary to the trust reposed in the Ueutenant-govemor
by the royal charter; to the rights of the people,
whose welfai-e it was his duty to promote ; and to the
nature of the contract made between the govemor and
the governed, when the quitrents and license fees
were estabUshed, which confirmed what the proprieta
ries caU our "undoubted right" to necessary laws.
But, in the mouth of the proprietaries, or their creatures,
" contrary to his duty, and to every tie of justice and
honor," means, his passing laws contrary to proprietary
instructions, and contrary to the bonds he had pre
viously given to observe those instructions ; instruc
tions, however, that were unjust and unconstitutional ;
and bonds, that were iUegal and void from the be
ginning. Much has been said of the wickedness of Governor
Denny in passing, and of the assembly in prevaUing
with him to pass, those acts. By the Prefacer's ac
count of thera, you would think the laws so obtained
were all bad ; for he speaks of but seven, of which six,
he says, were repealed, and the seventh reported to
be " fundaraentally wrong and unjust," and " ought to

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 109
be repealed, unless six certain amendments were made
therein."* Whereas, m fact, there were nineteen of
them ; and several of those must have been good laws,
for even the proprietaries did not object to them. Of
the eleven that they opposed, only six were repealed ;
so that it seeras these good gentlemen may themselves
be sometimes as wrong in opposing, as the asserably
in enactmg laws. But the words " fundamentaUy wrong
and unjust" are the great fund of triumph to the pro
prietaries and their partisans. These their subsequent
govemors have unmercifully dinned in the ears of the
assembly on aU occasions ever since ; for they raake a
part of near a dozen of their messages. They have rung
the changes on those words, tifl they have worked them
up to say that the law was fundaraentally wrong and
unjust in six several articles; (Governor's Message,
May 17th, 1764,) instead of "ought to be repealed,
unless six alterations or amendments could be made
therein." A law unjust in six several articles must be
an unjust law indeed. Let us therefore, once for all,
examine this unjust law, article by article, in order to
see whether our assembUes have been such viUains as
they have been represented.
The first particular in which then- lordships proposed
the act should be amended was, " That the real estates
to be taxed be defined wiih precision ; so as not to
include the unsurveyed waste land belonging to the
proprietaries." This was, at raost, but an obscurity to
be cleared up ; and, though the law might weU appear
to their lordships uncertain in that particular, with us,
who better know our own customs, and that the
proprietaries' waste unsurveyed land was never here
* The act is entitled, "An Act for granting to his Majesty the sum of
one hundred thousand pounds ; striking the same in bills of credit, and
sinking the bills by a tax on all estates real and personal."
VOL. IV. J

110 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
considered among estates real, subject to taxation :
there was not the least doubt or supposition, that such
lands were included in the words " aU estates real and
personal." The agents, therefore,* knowing that the
assembly had no intention to tax those lands, might
weU suppose they would readily agree to remove the
obscurity. Before we go farther, let it be observed, that the
main design of the proprietaries in opposing this act
was, to prevent iheir estates being taxed at all. But,
as they knew that the doctrine of the proprietary ex
emption, which they had endeavoured to enforce here,
could not be supported there, they bent their whole
strength against the act on other principles to procure
its repeal ; pretending great wilUngness to submit to an
equitable fax, but that the assembly (out of raere
raalice, because they had conscientiously quitted Quak
erism for the church,) were wickedly determined to
ruin them, to tax aU their unsurveyed wUderness lands,
and at the highest rates ; and by that means exempt
themselves and the people, and throw the whole bur
den of the war on the proprietary faraUy.
How foreign these charges were frora the truth, need
not be told to any man in Pennsylvania. And, as the
proprietors knew, that the hundred thousand pounds of
paper money, struck for the defence of their enormous
estates, with others, was actuaUy issued, spread through
the country, and in the hands of thousands, of poor
people, who had given their labor for it, how base,
cruel, and inhuman it was to endeavour, by a repeal of
the act, to strike the money dead in those hands at
one blow, and reduce it all to waste paper; to the
* The agents in England, whither the laws were sent to receive the
King's assent. Franldin was one of the agents in that country at the
time the laws in question were sent out for approval. — Editor.

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. Ill
utter confusion of afl trade and deaUngs, and the mm
of raultitudes, raerely to avoid paying their own just
tax; — words raay be wanting to express, but minds
wUl easily conceive, and never without abhorrence.
The second amendraent proposed by their lordships
was, " That the located uncultivated lands belonging
to the proprietaries shaU not be assessed higher than
the lowest rate, at which any located uncultivated lands
belonging to the inhabitants shaU be assessed." Had
there been any provision in the act, that the proprieta
ries' lands and those of the people, of the same value,
should be taxed differently, the one high, and the other
low, the act might weU have been caUed in this par
ticular "fundamentaUy wrong and unjust." But, as
there is no such clause, this cannot be one of the par
ticulars on which the charge is founded ; but, like the
first, is merely a requisition to make the act clear ;
by express directions therein, that the proprietaries' es
tate should not be, as they pretended to beUeve it
would be, taxed higher in proportion to its value than
the estates of others. As to their present claira, found
ed on that article, " that the best and raost valuable of
their lands, should be taxed no higher than the worst
and least valuable of the people's," it was not then
thought of; they made no such demand ; nor did
any one dream, that so iniquitous a claira would ever
be made by raen, who had the least pretence to the
characters of honorable and honest.
The third particular was, " That afl lands, not granted
by the proprietaries within boroughs and towns, be
deemed located uncultivated lands, and rated accord
ingly, and not as lots." The clause in the act that
this relates to is, "And whereas many valuable lots
of ground within the city of PhUadelphia, and the sev
eral boroughs and towns within this province, remain

112 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
unimproved; be it enacted, &c., that all such unun-
proved lots of ground within the city and boroughs
aforesaid shafl be rated and assessed according to their
situation and value, for and towards raising the money
hereby granted." The reader wUl observe, that the
word is, all uniraproved lots ; and that all corapre-
hends the lots belonging to the people, as weU as
those of the proprietary. There were many of the
former ; and a number belonging even to merabers of
the then asserably ; and, considering the value, the tax
must be proportionably as grievous to them, as the
proprietary's to him.
Is there among us a single man, even a proprietary
relation, officer, or dependant, so insensible of the dif
ferences of right and wrong, and so confused in his
notions of just and unjust, as to think and say, that
the act in this particular was "fundamentally wrong
and unjust"? I beUeve not one. What, then, could
their lordships mean by the proposed amendment'?
Their meaning is easfly explained. The proprietaries
have considerable tracts of land within the bounds of
boroughs and towns, that have not yet been divided
into lots. They pretended to beUeve, that by virtue
of this clause an imaginary division would be made of
those lands into lots, and an extravagant value set on
such imaginary lots, greatly to their prejudice. It was
answered, that no such thing was intended by the act ;
and that by "lots" was meant only such ground as
had been surveyed and divided into lots, and not the
open undivided lands. If this only is mtended, say
then- lordships, then let the act be amended, so as
clearly to express what is intended. This is the fufl
amount of the third particular. How the act was un
derstood here, is wefl known by the execution of it,
before the dispute came on in England, and therefore

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 113
before their lordships' opinion on the point could be
given ; of which fufl proof shaU presently be made. In
the mean time it appears, that the act was not on this
account "fundamentally wrong and unjust."
The fourth particular is, "That the govemor's con
sent and approbation be raade necessary to every issue
and application of the raoney, to be raised by virtue of
such act." The asserably intended this, and thought
they had done it in the act. The words of the clause
being, " That [the coraraissioners named], or the raajor
part of thera, or of the survivors of them, with the con
sent or approbation of the governor or commander-in-
chief of this province for the time being, shafl order
and appoint the dispositions of ihe moneys arising by
virtue of this act, for and towards paying and clothing
two thousand seven hundred effective raen," &c. It
was understood here, that as the power of disposing
was expressly to be with the consent and approbation
of the governor, the coramissioners had no power to
dispose of the money without that approbation. But
their lordships, jealous (as their station requires) of
this prerogative of the crown, and being better ac
quainted with the force and weakness of law expres
sion, did not think the clause explicit enough, unless the
words " and not otherwise " were added, or some other
words equivalent. This particular, therefore, was no
more than another requisition of greater clearness and
precision, and by nq means a foundation for the charge
of "fundamentaUy wrong and unjust."
The fifth particular was, " That provincial commis
sioners be naraed, to hear and determine appeals,
brought on the part of the inhabitants, as weU as the
proprietaries." There was already subsisting a pro
vision for the appointraent of county coraraissioners of
appeal ; by whom the act raight be, and actuaUy has
VOL. IV. 15 J*

114 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
been (as we shall presently show), justly and impar
tiaUy executed with regard to the proprietaries ; but
provincial comraissioners appointed in the act it was
thought might be of use in regulating and equaUzing
the modes of assessraent of different counties where
they were unequal, and, by affording a second appeal,
tend raore to the satisfaction both of the proprietaries
and the people. This particular was, therefore, a raere
proposed iraproveraent of the act ; which could not be,
and was not, in this respect, denorainated " fundamen
taUy wrong and unjust."
We have now gone through five of the six proposed
araendraents, without discovering any thing on which
that censure could be founded ; but the sixth reraains,
which points at a part of the act wherein we raust
candidly acknowledge there is soraething, that, in their
lordships' view of it, must justify their judgment. The
words of the sixth article are, "That the payraents by
the tenants to the proprietaries of their rents shaU be
according to the term of their respective grants ; as if
such act had never been passed." This relates to that
clause of the act by which the paper money was made
a legal tender in " discharge of aU manner of debts,
rents, sura and suras of raoney whatsoever, &c., at the
rates ascertained in the act of ParUament made in the
sixth of Queen Anne."
From the great injustice frequently done to creditors,
and coraplained of frora the colonies, by the vast de
preciation of paper biUs, it was becorae a general fixed
principle with the rainistry, that such bUls (whose value
though fixed in the act, could not be kept fixed by the
act,) ought not to be raade a legal tender in any col
ony at those rates. The Parharaent had before passed
an act to take that tender away in the four New Eng
land colonies, and have since made the act general.

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 115
This was what their lordships would therefore have
proposed for the araendraent. But, it being represent
ed, that the chief support of the credit of the bUls was
the legal tender, and that without it they would becorae
of no value, it was allowed generaUy to remain, with an
exception to the proprietaries' rents, where there was
a special contract for payment in another coin. It can
not be denied but that this was doing justice to the
proprietaries ; and that, had the requisition been in fa
vor of all other creditors also, the justice had been
equal, as being general. We do not therefore presume
to impeach their lordships' judgment, that the act, as it
enforced the acceptance of bUls for money at a value
which they had only nominally, and not reaUy, was in
that respect " fundamentaUy wrong and unjust."
And yet we beUeve the reader wiU not thmk the
iassembly so much to blame, when he considers that
the raaking paper biUs a legal tender had been the uni
versal raode in America for more than threescore years ;
that there was scarce a colony, that had not practised
that mode more or less ; that it had always been
thought absolutely necessary, in order to give the biUs
a credit, and thereby obtain from them the uses of
money ; that the inconveniences were therefore sub
mitted to, for the sake of the greater conveniences;
that acts mnumerable of the Uke kind had been ap
proved by the crown ; and that, if the asserably raade
the bUls a legal tender at those rates to the proprieta
ries, they raade thera also a legal tender to theraselves,
and aU their constituents, many of whom might suffer
in their rents, &c., as much in proportion to their es
tates as the proprietaries.
But, if he cannot on these considerations quite excuse
the assembly, what wiU he think of those honorable pro
prietaries, who, when paper raoney was issued in their

116 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
colony for the common defence of their vast estates with
those of the people, and who raust therefore reap at
least equal advantages from those bUls with the people,
could nevertheless wish to be exempted frora their
share of the unavoidable disadvantages. Is there upon
earth a raan besides, with any conception of what is
honest, with any notion of honor, with the least tincture
m his veins of the gentleraan, but would have blushed
at the thought, but would have rejected with disdain
such undue preference, if it had been offered him?
Much less would he have struggled for it, moved
heaven and earth to obtain it, resolved to ruin thou
sands of his tenants by a repeal of the act, rather than
raiss of it,* and enforce it afterwards by an audaciously
wicked instruction; forbidding aids to his King, and
exposing the province to destmction, unless it was com
pUed with. And yet, these are honorable men.f
Here, then, we have had a fuU view of the assembly's
injustice, about which there has been so much insolent
triuraph. But let the proprietaries and their discreet
deputies hereafter recoUect and remember, that the
same august tribunal, which censured some of the
modes and circurastances of that act, did at the sarae
* This would have been done, and the money all sunk in the hands
of the people, if the agents, Benjamin Franklin and Robert Charles, had
not interposed, and voluntarily, without authority from the assembly so to
do, but at their own risk, undertaken that those amendments should be
made, or that they themselves would indemnify the proprietaries from
any damages they might sustain for want thereof. An action which, as
the Prefacer says in another case, " posterity perhaps may find a narae
for." t It is not easy to guess from what source our proprietaries have drawn
their principles. Those who study law and justice, as a science, have
established it a maxim in equity, " Qui sentit commodum, sentire debet
et onus." And so consistent is this with the comraon sense of mankind,
that even our lowest untaught cobblers and porters feel the force of it in
their own majdm, (which they are honest enough never to dispute^
" Touch pot, touch penny."

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 117
tune estabUsh and confirm the grand principle of the
act, namely, " That the proprietary estate ought, with
other estates, to be taxed;"- and thereby did, in effect,
determine and pronounce, that the opposition so long
made m various shapes to that just principle, by the
proprietaries, was "fundamentally wrong and unjust."
An injustice they were not, Uke the assembly, under
any necessity of committing for the public good ; or any
other necessity, but what was iraposed on them by
those base passions that act the tyrant in bad minds ;
their selfishness, their pride, and their avarice.
I have frequently mentioned the equitable intentions
of the House in those parts of the act that were sup
posed obscure, and how they were understood here.
A clear proof thereof is found, as I have already said,
in the actual execution of the act ; in the execution of
it before the contest about it in England, and therefore
before their lordships' objections to it had a being.
When the report carae over, and was laid before the
House, one year's tax had been levied ; and the assem
bly, conscious that no injustice had been intended to
the proprietaries, and wiUing to rectify it if any should
appear, appointed a comraittee of members from the
several counties to examine into the state of the pro
prietaries' taxes through the province, and nominated
on that committee a gentieraan of known attachraent
to the proprietaries, and their chief justice, Mr. AUen,
to the end that the strictest inquiry might be made.
Their report was as foUows ;
"We, the committee appointed to inquire into and
consider the state of the proprietary taxation through
the several counties, and report the same to the House,
have, in pursuance of the said appointment, carefuUy
examined the returns of property, and compared them
with the respective assessments thereon made through
the whole province ; and find.

118 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
" First, that no part of the unsurveyed waste lands
belonging to the proprietaries have, in any instance,
been included in the estates taxed.
"Secondly, that sorae of the located uncultivated
lands belonging to the proprietaries, in several counties,
remain unassessed ; and are not in any county as
sessed higher than the lands under like circurastances
belonging to the inhabitants.
"Thirdly, that aU lands not granted by the proprie
taries, within boroughs and towns, reraam untaxed,
excepting in a few instances, and in those they are
rated as low, as the lands which are granted in the
said boroughs and towns.
" The whole of the proprietary tax of eighteen pence
in the pound, amounts to £566 4s. lOd. And the
sum of the tax on the inhabitants for the same year
amounts, through the several counties, to £27,103
12s. 8d. And it is the opinion of your committee, that
there has not been any injustice done to the proprie
taries, or atterapts made to rate or assess any part of
their estates higher than the estates of the like kind
belonging to the inhabitants are rated and assessed ;
but, on the contrary, we find, that their estates are
rated, in raany instances, below others.
"Thoraas Leech, George Ashbridge,
"Joseph Fox, Eraanuel Carpenter,
"Samuel Rhoads, John Blackburn,
"Abraham Chapraan, WiUiara AUen."
The House communicated this report to Governor
Hamilton, when he afterwards pressed them to make
the stipulated act of amendment ; acquainting hira, at
the same time, that, as in the execution of the act no
injustice had hitherto been done to the proprietary, so,
by a yearly inspection of the assessments, they would
take care that none should be done him ; for that, if

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 119
any should appear, or the govemor could at any tirae
point out to them any that had been done, they would
unmediately rectify it ; and, therefore, as the act was
shortly to expire, they did not think the araendraents
necessary. Thus that matter ended during tliat ad
ministration. And had his successor. Governor Penn, permitted it
StUl to sleep, we are of opinion it had been more to
the honor of the family, and of his own discretion.
But he was pleased to found upon it a claim manifestly
unjust, and which he was totally destitute of reason to
support. A claim, that the proprietaries' best and most
valuable located uncultivated lands should be taxed no
higher than the worst and least valuable of those be
longing to the inhabitants ; to enforce which, as he
thought the words of one of the stipulations seemed
to give sorae countenance to it, he insisted on usmg
those very words as sacred; from which he could,
" neither in decency or in duty " deviate ; though he
had agreed to deviate from words in the same re
port, and therefore equaUy sacred in every other in
stance. A conduct which wiU (as the Prefacer says
in Governor Denny's case) for ever disgrace the annals
of his administration.*
Never did any administration open with a more
promising prospect than this of Governor Penn. He
assured the people, in his first speeches, of the propri
etaries' patemal regard for them, and their sincere dis
positions to do every thing that raight promote their
happiness. As the proprietaries had been pleased to
appoint a son of the family to the governraent, it was
thought not unUkely that there might be something in

• For a fuller account of this dispute the reader is referred to the
newspapers, and votes of assembly.

120 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
these professions ; for that they would probably choose
to have his administration made easy and agreeable,
and to that end might think it prudent to withdraw
those harsh, disagreeable, and unjust instructions with
which most of his predecessors had been hampered.
The asserably therefore beUeved fully, and rejoiced
sincerely. They showed the new governor every
mark of respect and regard that was in their power.
They readUy and cheerfully went into every thing he
recommended to thera. And when he and his author
ity were insulted and endangered by a lawless, murder
ing mob, they and their friends took arms at his caU,
and formed themselves round him for his defence, and
the support of his government.
But when it was found, that those mischievous in
structions StUl subsisted, and were even farther extend
ed; when the govemor began, unprovoked, to send
the House affronting messages, seizing every imagi
nary occasion of reflecting on their conduct ; when
every other symptom appeared of fixed, deep-rooted,
family malice, which could but a Uttle whUe beai' the
unnatural covering that had been thrown over it;
what wonder is it, if aU the old wounds broke out
and bled afresh; if all the old grievances, stUl unre
dressed, were recollected; if despair succeeded of
seeing any peace with a family, that could raalte
such returns to all their overtures of kindness. And
when, in the very proprietary councU, composed of
staunch friends of the family, and chosen for their at
tachment to it, it was observed, that the old men
(1 Kings, ch. xu.) withdrew themselves, finding their
opinion sUghted, and that aU measures were taken by
the advice of two or three young men (one of whom
too denies his share in them) ; is it any wonder, since
Uke causes produce like effects, if the assembly, not-

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 121
withstandmg afl their veneration for the first proprietor,
should say, with the chUdren of Israel under the same
circurastances, "What portion have we in David, or
inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O
Israel." Under these circurastances, and a conviction, that,
whUe so raany natural sources of difference subsisted
between proprietaries and people, no harraony in gov
ernment could long subsist (witho'ut which neither the
comraands of the crown could be executed, nor the
pubUc good proraoted) the House resuraed the consid
eration of a measure that had often been proposed in
former asserabUes ; a measure, that every proprietary
province in Araerica had, from the same causes, found
themselves obUged to take, and had actually taken,
or were about to take ; and a measure, that had hap
pily succeeded wherever it was taken; I mean the
recourse to an immediate royal government.
They, therefore, after a thorough debate, and making
no less than twenty-five unanimous resolves, expressmg
the raany grievances this province had long labored
under, through the proprietary governraent, came to
the foUowing resolution, viz. "Resolved, nemine con
tradicente, that this House wUl adjourn, in order to
consult their constituents, whether an humble address
should be drawn up and transraitted to his Majesty ;
praying that he would be graciously pleased to take the
people of this province under his iraraediate protection
and government; by completing the agreeraent here
tofore made with the first proprietary for the sale of
the governraent to the crown, or otherwise, as to his
wisdom and goodness shaU seera raeet."*
* These words, « by completing the agreement," &c. are omitted hy
tiie honest Prefacer, in his account of the resolve, that they might not in
terfere with his insinuation of the measure's being impracticable; "Have
VOL. IV. 16 K

122 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
This they ordered to be made pubUc, and it was
pubUshed accordingly in aU the newspapers. The
House then adjourned for no less than seven weeks, to
give their constituents time to consider the matter, and
theraselves an opportunity of taking their opinion and
advice. Could any thing be raore deUberate, raore
fair and open, or raore respectful to the people that
chose them ? During this recess, the people in many
places held Uttle meetings with each other ; the result
of which was, that they would raanifest their senti
raents to their representatives, by petitioning the crown
directly of theraselves, and requesting the assembly to
transmit and support those petitions. At the next
meeting many of these petitions were deUvered to the
House with that request ; they were signed by a very
great number * of the raost substantial mhabitants ; and
the proprietors, by any act of theirs, forfeited the least tittle of what
was granted them by his Majesty's royal ancestors? Or can they'be
deprived of their charter rights without their consent ? " &c. Sensible
that these questions are impertinent, if those rights are already sold.
* The Prefacer, with great art, endeavours to represent this number
as insignificant. He says the petitioners were but three thousand five
hiindred, and that the province contains near three hundred tliousand
so uls. His reader is to imagine that two hundred and ninety-six thousand
five hundred of them were applied to, and refused to sign it. The truth
is, that his number of souls is vastly exaggerated. The dwelling-houses
in the province, in 1752, did not exceed twenty thousand. Political arith
meticians reckon generally but five souls to a house, one house with
another ; and, therefore, allowing for houses since built, there are not
probably more than a hundred and ten thousand souls in the province ;
that of these, scarce twenty-two thousand could with any propriety be
petitioners. And, considering the scattered settlement of the province ;
the general inattention of mankind, especially in new countries, to public
affairs ; and the indefatigable pains taken by the proprietaries' new allies,
the Presbyterian clergy of Philadelphia, (who wrote circular letters to
every congregation in the county, to deter them from petitioning, by du
tiful intimations, that if we were reduced to a royal government, it would
be the " ruin of the province,") it is a wonder the number (near a sixth
part) was so great as it was. But if there had been no such petitions, it
would not have been material to the point. The assembly went upon

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 123
not the least intimation was received by the assembly
from any other of their constituents, that the method
was disapproved ; except in a petition frora an obscure
tov/nship in Lancaster county, to which there were
about forty names indeed, but aU evidently signed by
three hands only.
What could the assembly infer from the expressed
wfllingness of a part, and sUence of the rest, but that
the measure was universally agreeable ? They ac
cordingly resuraed the consideration of it ; and, though
a sraall, very smaU opposition then appeared to it in
the House, yet, as even that was founded, not on the
impropriety of the thing, but on the supposed unsuita-
bleness of the time or the manner, and a majority
of nine tenths being stiU for it, a petition was drawn,
agreeable to the forraer resolve, and ordered to be
transraitted to his Majesty.
But the Prefacer teUs us, that these petitioners for a
change, were a "nuraber of rash, ignorant, and incon
siderate people," and generally of a low rank. To be
sure they were not of the proprietary officers, depen
dents, or expectants, and those are chiefly the people
of high rank araong us ; but they were otherwise gener
ally men of the best estates in the province, and men
of reputation. The assembly, who come frora aU parts
of the country, and therefore may be supposed to
know them, at least as weU as the Prefacer, have given
that testiraony of thera. But what is the testiraony
of the asserably, who, in his opinion are equally rash,
ignorant, and inconsiderate with the petitioners ? And,
if his judgraent is right, how irapmdently and contrary
to their charter have his three hundred thousand souls

another foundation. They had adjourned to consult their constituents ;
they returned satisfied that the measure was agreea'jle to them, and
Twthing appeared to the contrary.

124 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
acted m their elections of assembly men, these twenty
years past ; for the charter requii'es them to choose men
of most note for virtue, wisdora, and abiUty.
But these are qualities engrossed it seems by the
proprietary party. For, they say, " The wiser and better
part of the province had far different notions of this
measure ; they considered, that the moment they put
their hands to these petitions they might be surren
dering up their birthright." I feUcitate them on the
honor they have thus bestowed upon themselves ; on
the sincere corapUraents thus given and accepted ; and
on their having with such noble freedora discarded the
sniveUing pretence to raodesty, couched in that thread
bare forra of words, "Though we say it, that should
not say it." But is it not surprising, that, during the
seven weeks' recess of the assembly, expressly to con
sult their constituents on the expediency of this meas
ure, and during the fourteen days the House sat deUb
erating on it after they met again, these their wisdoms
and betternesses should never be so kind as to com
municate the least scrap of their prudence, their knowl
edge, or their consideration to their rash, ignorant, and
inconsiderate representatives ? Wisdora in the raind is
not like raoney in the purse, dirainisbed by corarauni
cation to others ; they might have lighted up our far
thing candles for us, without lessening the blaze of
their own flambeaux. But they suffered our repre
sentatives to go on in the dark tiU the fatal deed was
done ; and the petition sent to the King, praying him
to take the government of this province into his im
mediate care; whereby, if it succeeds, "our glorious
plan of public liberty and charter of privUeges is to be
bartered away," and we are to be made slaves for ever.
Cruel parsimony ! to refuse the charity of a Uttle un
derstanding, when God had given you so much, and

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 125
the assembl}^ begged it as an alras. O, that you had
but for once remembered and observed the counsel of
that wise poet, Pope, where he says,
" Be niggards of advice on no pretence ;
For the worst avarice is that of sense."
In the constitution of our government and in that of
one raore, there stiU reraains a particular thing that
none of the other Araerican governraents have ; to wit,
the appointraent of a governor by the proprietors, in
stead of an appointment by the crown. This par
ticular in government has been found inconvenient,
attended with contentions and confusions wherever it
existed, and has therefore been gradually taken away
from colony after colony, and everywhere greatly to
the satisfaction and happiness of the people.
Our wise first proprietor and founder was fully sen
sible of this ; and being desirous of leaving his people
happy, and preventing the mischiefs that he foresaw
must in tirae arise frora that circurastance, if it was con
tinued ; he deterrained to take it away, if possible,
during his own lifetirae. They accordingly entered
into a contract for the sale of the proprietary right of
government to the crown ; and actually received a sum
in part of the consideration. As he found hiraself
Ukely to die before that contract (and with it his plan
for the happiness of his people) could be completed,
he carefully raade it part of his last wUl and testaraent,
devising the right of the govemment to two noble lords,
in trust, that they should release it to the crown. Un
fortunately for us, this has never yet been done. And
this is merely what the asserably now desire to have
done. Surely he that forraed our constitution, raust have
understood it. If he had iraagined, that all our privi
leges depended on the proprietary government, wifl
K*

126 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
any one suppose, that he would himself have medi
tated the change; that he would have taken such
effectual measures as he thought thera, to bring it
about speedily, whether he should Uve or die? Wifl
any of those, who now extol hira so highly, charge him
at the same time with the baseness of endeavouring
thus to defraud his people of afl the Uberties and priv
Ueges he had promised them, and by the most solemn
charters and grants assured to them, when he engaged
them to assist him in the settlement of his province?
Surely none can be so inconsistent. And yet this
proprietary right of goveming or appointing a govemor
has afl of a sudden changed its nature; and the pres
ervation- of it become of so much importance to the
welfare of the province, that the assembly's only peti
tioning to have their venerable founder's wifl executed,
and the contract he entered into for the good of his
people completed, is styled, an "atterapt to violate the
constitution for which our fathers planted a wUdemess ;
to barter away our glorious plan of pubUc liberty and
charter privUeges ; a risking of the whole constitution ;
an offering up our whole charter rights; a wanton
sporting with things sacred," &c.
Pleasant surely it is to hear the proprietary partisans,
of afl men, bawling for the constitution, and affecting a
terrible concern for our liberties and privUeges. They,
who have been these twenty years cursing our consti
tution, declaring that it was no constitution, or worse
than none; and that things could never be wefl with
us, tUl it was new modeUed, and made exactly conform
able to the British constitution ; they who have treated
our distinguishing privUeges as so many illegalities and
absurdities ; who have soleranly declared in print, that,
though such privUeges might be proper in the infancy
of a colony to encourage its settiement, they became

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 127
unfit for it in its grown state, and ought to be taken
away ; they who, by numberless falsehoods, propagated
with infinite industry in the mother country, atterapted
to procure an act of Parharaent for the actual depriving
a very great part of the people of their privUeges ; they,
too, who have already deprived the whole people of
sorae of their raost iraportant rights, and are daily en
deavouring to deprive thera of the rest; are these
becorae patriots and advocates for our constitution?
Wonderful change ! Astonishing conversion ! WUl the
wolves then protect the sheep, if they can but per
suade them to give up their dogs ? Yes ; the assera
bly would destroy aU their own rights and those of the
people, and the proprietary partisans are become the
champions for Uberty. Let those, who have faith, now
make use of it ; for, if it is rightly defined " the evi
dence of things not seen," certainly never was there
more occasion for such evidence, the case being totaUy
destitute of aU other.
It has been long observed, that men are, with that
party, angels or demons, just as they happen to con
cur with or oppose their raeasures. And I raention it
for the corafort of old sinners, that in poUtics, as wefl
as in reUgion, repentance and amendment, though late,
shafl obtain forgiveness, and procure favor. Witness
the late speaker, Mr. Norris; a steady and constant
opposer of all the proprietary encroachraents, and
whom, for thirty years past, they have been therefore
continually abusing, aUowing him no one virtue or good
quaUty whatsoever ; but now, as he showed some un-
wilUngness to engage in this present application to the
crown, he is become all at once the " faithful servant."
But let me look at the text, to avoid mistakes; and,
indeed, I was mistaken ; I thought it had been " faith-
fid servant of the pubUc," but I find it is only " of the

128 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
House." WeU chosen, that expression, and prudently
guarded. The former, frora a proprietary pen, would
have been praise too rauch ; only for disapproving the
time of the appUcation. Could you, much respected
Sir, go but a Uttie farther, and disapprove the appUcation
itself; could you but say the proprietary govemment
is a good one, and ought to be continued ; then might
aU your political offences be done away, and your scar
let sins become as snow and wool ; then might you end
your course with (proprietary) honor. P  should
preach your funeral sermon, and S  , the poisoner
of other characters, embalra your memory. But those
honors you wiU never receive ; for, with returning health
and strength, you wUl be found in your old post, firm
for your country.
There is encouragement too for young sinners, Mr.
Dickinson, whose speech our Prefacer has introduced
to the world, (though long hated by sorae, and disre
garded by the rest, of the proprietary faction,) is at
once, for the sarae reason as in Mr. Norris's case, be
corae a sage in the law, and an oracle in matters relat
mg to our constitution. I shaU not endeavour to pluck
so much as a leaf firom these the young gentleman's
laurels. I would only advise him carefuUy to preserve
the panegyrics with which they have adorned him ;
in time they may serve to console hira, by balancing
the calumny they shaU load him with, when he does
not go through with them in aU their measures. He
wUl not probably do the one, and they wiU then assur
edly do the other. There are mouths that can blow
hot as wefl as cold, and blast on your brows the bays
their hands have placed there. Experto crede Roberto.
Let but the proprietary favor withdraw its shine for a
raoraent ; and that " great nuraber of the principal
gentlemen of PhUadelphia," who applied to you for the

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 129
copy of your speech, shaU immediately despise and
desert you.
"Those principal gentlemen!" what a pity it is that
their naraes were not given us m the Preface, together
with their adrairable letter. We should then have
known where to mn for advice on aU occasions. We
should have known whom to choose for our future rep
resentatives ; for undoubtedly these were they, that are
elsewhere cafled "the wiser and better part of the
provmce." None but wisdoms could have known be
forehand that a speech which they never heard, and a
copy of which they had never seen, but were then
requestmg to see, was "a spirited defence," and "of
our charter privfleges ; " and that " the publication of it
woifld be of great utiUty, and give general satisfaction."
No inferior sagacity could discover, that the appoint
ment of a govemor by the proprietor was one of our
"charter privfleges"; and that those, who opposed
the appUcation for a royal government, were therefore
patriot members appearing on the side of our privUeges
and our charter.
Utterly to confound the assembly, and show the ex
ceUence of proprietary government, the Prefacer has
extracted from their own votes, the praises they have
from time to time bestowed on the first proprietor, in
their addresses to his sons. And, though addresses
are not generaUy the best repositories of historical truth,
we must nofin this instance deny theu- authority.*
• In the Preface to Dickinson's ^leech, the foUowing character of Wil
liam Penn was inserted, every phrase in which was taken, as the writer
said, from the minutes of the assembly. — Editor.
"Wlliiam Pewn,
A man of principles truly humane,
An advocate for
Religion and Liberty,
Possessing a noble spirit,
VOL. IV. 17

130 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
That these encoraiuras on the father, though smcere,
have occurred so frequently, was owing, however, to
two causes; first, a vain hope the assemblies enter
tained, that the father's exaraple, and the honors done
his character, might influence the conduct of the sons ;
secondly, for that, in attempting to compUment the sons
on their own merits, there was always found an ex
treme scarcity of raatter. Hence, the father, the hon
ored and honorable father, was so often repeated, that
the sons theraselves grew sick of it, and have been

That exerted itself
For the good of mankind.
Was
The great and worthy founder
Of
Pennsylvania.
To its inhabitants, by Charter,
He granted and confirmed
Many singular Privileges and Immunitiea,
Civil and religious ;
Which he continually studied
To preserve and defend for them.
Nobly declaring,
That they had not followed hun so far
To lose a single tittle
Of the Great Charter
To which all EngUshmen were born!
For these services.
Great have been the acknowledgments
Deservedly paid to his merit;
And his memory
Is dear to his people.
Who have repeatedly confessed,
Thati
Next to Divine Providence,
Their happiness, prosperity, and increase
Are owing
To his wise conduct and singular goodness,
Wluch deserve ever to be remembered.
With
Gratitude and Affection,
By Pennsylvanians."

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 131
heard to say to each other with disgust, when told that A,
B, and C were come to wait upon them with addresses
0^1 some pubhc occasion, " Then I suppose we shall
hear more about our father." So that, let me tefl the
Prefacer, who perhaps was unacquainted with this an
ecdote, that if he hoped to curry raore favor with the
family, by the inscription he has framed for that great
man's monument, he may find himself mistaken; for
there is too much in it of our father.
If, therefore, he would erect a monument to the
sons, the votes of the assembly, which are of such
credit with him, wifl furnish him with ample materials
for his inscription.
To save hun trouble, I wUl essay a sketch for him,
in the lapidary style, though mostly in the expressions,
and everywhere hi the sense and spuit, of the assem
bly's resolves and messages. Be this a Memorial
Of T  and R  P  ,
P  of P  ,*
Who, with estates immense,
Almost beyond computation.
When their own province,
And the whole British empire.
Were engaged in a bloody and most expensive war.
Begun for the defence of those estates.
Could yet meanly desire
To have those very estates
Totally or partially
Exempted from taxation.
While their fellow-subjects all around them.
Groaned ,
Under the universal burden.
To gain this point,
They refused the necessary laws
For the defence of their people.
And suffered their colony to welter in its blood.
Rather than abate in the least
• That is, Thomas and Richard Penn, Proprietors of Pennsylvania. —
Editor.

132 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Of these their dishonest pretensions.
The privileges granted by their father,
Wisely and benevolently
To encourage the first settiers of the province.
They,
Foolishly and cruelly,
Taking advantage of pubhc distress,
Have extorted from the posterity of those settlers ;
And are daily endeavouring to reduce them
To the most abject slavery;
Though to the virtue and industry of those people,
In improving their country.
They owe all that they possess and enjoy.
A striking instance
Of human depravity and ingratitude ;
And an iirefragable proof.
That wisdom and goodness
Do not descend with an inheritance ;
But that ineffable meanness
May be connected with unbounded fortune.*
What then avaUs it to the honor of the present pro
prietors, that our founder and their father gave us priv
ileges; if they, the sons, wiU not permit the use of
thera, or forcibly rend them from us ? David may have
been a man after God's own heart, and Solomon the
wisest of proprietors and govemors ; but if Rehoboam
wiU be a tyrant and a  , who can secure him the
affections of the people ? The virtue and merit of his
ancestors may be very great ; but his presumption m
depending upon these alone may be much greater.
I laraented, a few pages ago, that we were not ac
quainted with the names of those " prmcipal gentiemen,
the wiser and better part of the province." I now
rejoice that we are likely some tune or other to know
them ; for a copy of a " Petition to the King " is now
before me ; which, fi-om its sunflarity with their letter,
" Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, 1754, passim ;
1755, 1756, 1757, passim; 1758, 1759, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1763, 1764,
passim.

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 133
must be of theu- mditing and wUl probably be recom
mended to the people, by their leading up the signing
On this petition I shaU take the hberty of making a
few remarks, as they wfll save me the necessity of fol-
lowmg farther the Preface ; the sentiments of this and
that being nearly the same.
It begins with a formal quotation fi-om the petition,*
which they owti they have not seen, and of words
that are not in it ; and, after relating very imperfectiy
and unfairly the fact relating to then- appUcation for a
copy of it, which is of no importance, proceeds to set
forth, "That, as we and afl your American subjects
must be govemed by persons authorized and approved
by your Majesty, on the best recomraendation that can
be obtained of thera, we cannot perceive our condition
in this respect to be different frora our feUow-subjects
around us ; or that we are thereby less under your
Majesty's particular care and protection than they are ;
since there can be no govemors of this province with
out your Majesty's iraraediate approbation and au
thority." Such a declaration frora the wiser part of the prov
ince is reaUy a littie surprismg. What ! when dis
putes concerning matters of property are daily arising
between you and your proprietaries, cannot your wis
doms perceive the least difference between having the
judges of those disputes appointed by a royal govemor,
who has no mterest m the cause, and ha^g them
appointed by the proprietaries themselves, the principal
parties against you, and during their pleasure too?
When suppUes are necessary to be raised for your
defence, can you perceive no difference between having

* The petition of the assembly to the King for a Royal Govemment
— Editor. VOL. IV. L

134 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
a royal govemor, free to promote his Majesty's service
by a ready assent to your laws, and a proprietary gov
ernor, shackled by instmctions, forbidding him to give
that assent, unless some private advantage is obtained,
sorae profit got, or unequal exeraption gained for their
estate, or sorae privUege wrested from you? When
prerogative, that in other govemments is only used for
the good of the people, is here strained to the extreme,
and used to their prejudice, and the proprietaries' bene
fit, can you perceive no difference? When the direct
and immediate rays of Majesty benignly and mUdly
shine on aU around us, but are transmitted and thrown
upon us through the buming-glass of proprietary gov
emment, can your sensibUities feel no difference ? Shel
tered perhaps in proprietary offices, or benumbed with
expectations, it may be you cannot. But surely you
might have known better than to teU his Majesty, " that
there can be no govemors of this province, without his
immediate approbation." Don't you know, who know
so much, that by our blessed constitution the proprie
tors themselves, whenever they please, may govem us
in person, without such approbation?
The petition proceeds to teU his Majesty, " That the
particular mode of govemment which we enjoy, under
your Majesty, is held in the highest estimation by good
men of aU denominations among us; and has brought
multitudes of industrious people from various parts of
the world," &c. Really, can this be from proprietary
partisans ? That constitution, which they were for ever
censuring, as defective in a legislative council, defective
in govemment powers, too popular in many of its
modes ; is it now become so exceUent ? Perhaps, as
they have been tinkering it these twenty years, tifl
they have stripped it of sorae of its raost valuable priv
ileges, and alraost spofled it, they now begin to like it.

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 135
But then it is not surely this present constitution, that
brought hither those multhudes. They came before.
At least it was not that particular in our constitution,
(the proprietary power of appointing a govemor,) which
attracted them ; that single particular, which alone is
now in question; which our venerable founder first,
and now the assembly, are endeavouring to change.
As to the remainmg valuable part of our constitution,
the asserably have been equally fufl and strong in ex
pressing their regard for it, and perhaps stronger and
fuUer ; for their petition in that respect is in the nature
of a petition of right; it lays claim, though modestly
and humbly, to those privUeges on the foundation of
royal grants, on laws confirmed by the crown, and on
justice and equity ; as the grants were the considera
tions offered to induce them to settie, and which they
have in a manner purchased and paid for, by executing
that settiement without putting the crown to any ex
pense. Whoever would know what our constitution was,
when it was so rauch adraired, let hira peruse that ele
gant fareweU speech of Mr. HaraUton, father of our late
governor, when, as Speaker, he took his leave of the
House, and of pubUc business, in 1739 ; and then let
hira corapare that constitution with the present. The
power of appointing piiblic ofiicers by the representa
tives of the people, which he so much extols ; where
is it now ? Even the bare naming to the governor in
a bUl, a trivial officer to receive a light-house duty,
(which could be considered as no raore than a raere
recomraendation,) is, in a late raessage, styled " an en
croachment on the prerogative of the crown." The
sole power of raising and disposing of public money,
which he says was then lodged in the assembly; that
inestimable privilege, what is become of it? Inch by

136 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
meh they have been wrested from us in tiraes of public
distress ; and the rest are going the same way. I re
member to have seen, when Govemor Hamilton was
engaged in a dispute with the assembly on some of
those points, a copy of that speech, which then was
intended to be reprinted, with a dedication to that hon
orable gentieraan, and this raotto, from John Rogers's
verses m the Primer ;
" We send you here a little book,
For you to look upon.
That you may see your father's face,
Now he is dead and gone."
Many a such Uttie book has been sent by our assem
blies to the present proprietaries ; but they do not like
to see their father's face ; it puts their own out of
countenance. The petition proceeds to say, " That such disagree
ments as have arisen in this province, we have beheld
with sorrow ; but, as others around us are not exempt
ed from the Uke misfortunes, we can by no raeans con
ceive them incident to the nature of our govemment,
which hath often been administered with remarkable
harmony ; and your Majesty, before whom our late dis
putes have been laid, can be at no loss, in your great
wisdom to discover, whether they proceed from the
above cause, or should be ascribed to some others."
The disagreements in question are proprietary disagree
ments in government, relating to proprietary private
interests. And are not the royal governraents around
us exerapt from these misfortunes? Can you really,
Gentiemen, by no raeans conceive, that proprietary
government disagreements are incident to the nature of
proprietary governments? Can they in nature be inci
dent to any other governments ? If your wisdoms are
so hard to conceive, I am afraid they wifl never bring
forth.

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 137
But then our governraent " hath often been adrainis
tered with reraarkable harraony." Very true ; as often
as the asserably have been able and wUling to purchase
that harmony, and pay for it ; the mode of which has
already been shown. And yet that word often seems
a Uttie unluckily chosen ; the flarae that is often put
out, must be as often lit. If our government "hath
often been administered with reraarkable harraony," it
hath as often been adrainistered with reraarkable dis
cord. One often is as numerous as the other. And
his Majesty, if he should take the trouble of looking
over our disputes (to which the petitioners, to save
theraselves a littie pains, modestly and decently refer
him), where wUl he, for twenty years past, find any but
proprietary disputes concerning proprietary interests ;
or disputes that have been connected with and arose
frora thera ?
The petition proceeds to assure his Majesty, "that
this province (except frora the Indian ravages) enjoys
the most perfect internal iranquilliiy." Araazing !
What! the raost perfect tranquilUty, when there have
been three atrocious riots within a few raonths ! When,
in two of them, horrid murders were committed on
twenty innocent persons ; and, in the third, no less than
one hundred and forty like murders were meditated,
and declared to be intended, with as many more as
should be occasioned by any opposition! When we
know, that these rioters and murderers have none of
them been punished, have never been prosecuted, have
not even been apprehended ; when we are frequently
told, that they intend stUl to execute their purposes as
soon as the protection of the Kmg's forces is with
drawn ! Is our tranquilUty raore perfect now, than it
was between the first riot and the second, or between
the second and the third ? And why " except the In-
VOL. IV. 18 L*

138 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
dian ravages," if a Utile intermission is to be denomi
nated "themost perfect tranquUlity"? for the Indians
too have been quiet lately. Almost as wefl might ships
m an engagement talk of the " most perfect tranqufl-
Uty" between two broadsides. But "a spirit of riot
and violence is foreign to the general temper of the m-
habitants." I hope and believe it is ; the assembly
have said nothmg to the contrary. And yet is there
not too much of it ? Are there not pamphlets contmu-
afly written, and dafly sold in our streets, to justify and
encourage it ? Are not the mad armed mob in those
writings instigated to embrue their hands in the blood
of their feUow citizens, by first applauding theu* raurder
of the Indians, and then representing the assembly and
their friends as worse than Indians, as having privately
stirred up the Indians to murder the white people, and
arraed and rewarded them for that purpose? Lies,
Gentlemen, viUanous as ever the raalice of heU invented,
and which, to do you justice, not one of you beUeves,
though you would have the raob believe them.
But your petition proceeds to say, "that where
such disturbances have happened, they have been
speedily quieted." By whora were they quieted ? The
two first, if they can be said to be quieted, were quieted
only by the rioters themselves going home quietly
(that is, without any interruption), and remaining there
till their next insurrection, without any pursuit or at
terapt to apprehend any of them. And the third, was
it quieted, or was the mischief they mtended prevented,
or could it have been prevented, without the aid of the
King's troops, marched into the province for that pur
pose ? " The civfl powers have been supported," in
some sort. We afl know how they were supported ;
but have they been fufly supported ? Has the govern
ment sufficient strength, even with afl its supports, to

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 139
venture on the apprehending and punishment of those
notorious offenders ? If it has not, why are you angry
at those who would strengthen its hands by a raore im
mediate royal authority ? If it has, why is not the thing
done? Why wfll the govemment, by its conduct,
strengthen the suspicions (groundless no doubt), that it
has come to a private understanding with those mur
derers, and that impunity for their past crimes is to be
the reward of their future poUtical services? O, but
says the petition, " There are perhaps cases in aU gov
ernraents, where it may not be possible speedily to dis
cover offenders." Probably ; is there any case in any
governraent where it is not possible to endeavour such
a discovery ? There may be cases where it is not safe
to do it. And perhaps the best thing our government
can say for itself is, that that is our case. The only
objection to such an apology raust be, that it would
justUy that part of the asserably's petition to the crown
which relates to the weakness of our present gov
ernraent.* Still, if there is any fault, it raust be in the assem
bly. " For," says the petition, " if the executive part of
our govemment should seera in any case too weak,
we conceive it is the duty of the asserably, and in
their power, to strengthen it." This weakness, how
evei", you have just denied. "Disturbances," you say,
"have been speedily quieted, and the civfl power sup
ported;" and thereby you have deprived your insin
uated charge against the assembly of its only support.
But is it not a fact known to you afl, that the asserably
* The assembly, being called upon by the governor for their advice on
that occasion, did, in a message, advise his sending for and examining
the magistrates of Lancaster county and borough, where the murders
were committed, in order to discover the actors ; but neither that, nor
any of the other measures recommended, were ever taken. Proclama
tions indeed were published, but soon discontinued.

140 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
did endeavour to strengthen the hands of the govern
ment? That, at his Honor's instance, they prepared
and passed in a few hours a biU for extending hither
the act of Parliaraent for dispersing rioters ? That they
also passed and presented to hira a raiUtia bill, which
he refused, unless powers were thereby given hira over
the lives and properties of the mhabitants, which the
public good did not require, and which their duty to
their constituents would not permit them to tmst in
the hands of any proprietary govemor? You know
the points, Gentleraen; they have been raade pubUc.
Would you have had your representatives give up
those points ? Do you intend to give them up, when
at the next election you are made assembly-men ? If
so, teU it us honestly beforehand, that we ma^MM^w
what we are to expect, when we are about-^ choose
you. I come now to the last clause of your petition,
where, with the sarae wonderful sagacity with which
you in another case discovered the exceUency of a
speech you never heard, you undertake to character
ize a petition you own you never saw ; and venture to
assure his Majesty, that it is "exceeding grievous in
its nature ; that it by no raeans contains a proper rep
resentation of the state of this province ; and is repug
nant to the general sense of his numerous and loyal
subjects " in it. Are, then, his Majesty's numerous and
loyal subjects in this province aU as great wizards as
yourselves, and capable of knowing, without seeing it,
that a petition is repugnant to their general sense ?
But the inconsistence of your petition. Gentlemen,
is not so much to be wondered at. The prayer of it
is StiU more extraordinary; "We therefore most hurably
pray, that your Majesty would be graciously pleased
wholly to disregard the said petition of the assembly."

PREFACE TO A SPEECH. 141
What ! without inquiry ! without exaraination ! without a
hearing of what the assembly might say in support of it !
•^wholly disregard" the petition of your representatives
m asserably ; accorapanied by other petitions signed by
thousands of your feUow subjects, as loyal, if not as
wise and as good as yourselves ! Would you wish to see
your great and araiable prince act a part that could not
becorae a Dey of Algiers ? Do you, who are Ameri
cans, pray for a precedent of such contempt in the
treatment of an American assembly ! Such " total dis
regard" of their humble applications to the throne?
Surely your Wisdoms here have overshot yourselves.
But as wisdom shows itself, not only in doing what is
right, but in confessing and amending what is wrong, I
recoraraend the latter particularly to your present atten
tion, being persuaded of this consequence, that, though
you have been mad enough to sign such a petition, you
never wUl be fools enough to present it.
There is one thing mentioned in the Preface, which I
find I omitted to take notice of as I carae along, the
refusal of the House to enter Mr. Dickinson's protest on
their rainutes. This is mentioned in such a manner
there and in the newspapers, as to insinuate a charge
of sorae partiahty and injustice in the assembly. But
the reasons were raerely these ; that, though protesting
may be a practice with the Lords of Parliaraent, there is
no instance of it in the House of Coraraons, whose pro
ceedings are the model foUowed by the assembUes of
America ; that there is no precedent of it in our votes,
from the beginning of our present constitution ; and
that the introducing such a practice would be attended
with inconveniences, as the representatives in assembly
are not, Uke the Lords in ParUament, unaccountable to
any constituents ; and would therefore find it necessary
for their own justification, if the reasons of the minority

142 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
for being agamst a measure were admitted m the
votes, to put there likewise the reasons that induced the
majority to be for it ; whereby the votes, which were
intended only as a register of propositions and deter
minations, would be fiUed with the disputes of mem
bers with members, and the pubUc business be thereby
greatly retarded, if ever brought to a period.
As that protest was a mere abstract of Mr. Dickin
son's speech, every particular of it wUl be found an
swered in the foUowmg speech of Mr. GaUoway ; fi-om
which it is fit that I should no longer detain the reader.

REMARKS
ON A LATE PROTEST
AGAINST THE
APPOINTMENT OF MR. FRANKLIN AS AGENT
FOR THE
PROVINCE OP PENNSYLVANIA.

The zeal and perseverance, with which Franklin had espoused
the cause of the people against the proprietaries, raised up many
enemies in the adverse party. At the election for a new assembly,
therefore, in the autumn of 1764, great efforts were made by his
opponents to prevent his being chosen, in which they succeeded.
By a small majority he lost his seat in the assembly, which he had
held for fourteen years, having been annually elected, even during
his absence in England, as one of the delegates from the city of
Philadelphia. But, notwithstanding this defeat, when the assembly
met, it was found that his friends and the friends of his measures
outnumbered the proprietary party, and he was again appointed to
resume his agency in England, and to take charge of a petition to
the King. Dissatisfied with this step, the minority in the House
drew up a formal protest, and urged its being inserted in the min
utes ; but it was refused, on the ground of its being irregular and
unprecedented. The protest was published, and gave occasion for
the following reply, written at the moment the author was preparing
to depart for Europe. — Editor.

I HAVE generaUy passed over, with a sflent disre
gard, the nameless abusive pieces that have been writ
ten against me; and, though this paper, cafled "A
Protest," is signed by some respectable names, I was.

144 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
nevertheless, inclined to treat it with the same indiffer
ence ; but as the assembly is therein reflected on upon
my account, it is thought more my duty to make some
remarks upon it.
I would first observe, then, that this mode of pro
testing by the minority, with a string of reasons against
the proceedings of the raajority of the House of As
sembly, is quite new among us; the present is the
second we have had of the kind, and both within a
few months. It is unknown to the practice of the
House of Coraraons, or of any House of Representa
tives in Araerica, that I have heard of; and seems an
affected imitation of the Lords in Parliaraent, which can
by no raeans become assembly-men of America. Hence
appears the absurdity of the complaint, that the House
refused the protest an entry on their minutes. The pro
testers know, that they are not by any custom or usage
entitled to such an entry ; and that the practice here is
not only useless in itself, but would be highly mconven
ient to the House, since it would probably be thought
necessary for the majority also to enter their reasons, to
justify themselves to their constituents ; whereby the
minutes would be encumbered, and the public business
obstmcted. More especially wifl it be found inconven
ient, if such protests are made use of as a new form
of libelUng, as the vehicles of personal maUce, and as
means of giving to private abuse the appearance of a
sanction as public acts. Your protest, Gentiemen, was
therefore properly refused ; and, since it is no part of the
proceedings of asserably, one may with the more free
dom examine it.
Your first reason against my appointment is, that
you " believe me to be the chief author of the meas
ures pursued by the last assembly, which have occa
sioned such uneasiness and distraction among the good

REMARKS ON A PROTEST. 145
people of this province." I shafl not dispute ray share
in those measures ; I hope they are such as wiU in tirae
do honor to aU that were concerned in them. But you
seera raistaken in the order of time. It was the unea
siness and distraction araong the good people of the
province, that occasioned the measures ; the province
was in confusion before they were taken, and they were
pursued in order to prevent such uneasiness and dis
traction for the future. Make one step farther back,
and you wiU find proprietary injustice, supported by
proprietary minions and creatures, the original cause of
aU our uneasiness and distractions.
Another of your reasons is, "that I am, as you are
inforraed, very unfavorably thought of by several of his
Majesty's rainisters." I apprehend, Gentleraen, that
your inforraer is mistaken. Pie indeed has taken great
pains to give unfavorable impressions of me, and per
haps may flatter hiraself, that it is irapossible so rauch
true industry should be totafly without effect. His long
success in raairaing or raurdering all the reputations that
stand in his way (which has been the dear delight and
constant eraployraent of his Ufe) may Ukewise have
given him some just ground for confidence, that he
has, as they cafl it, done for me, among the rest. But,
as I said before, I beUeve he is mistaken. For what
have I done, that they should think unfavorably of me 1
It cannot be ray constantly and uniformly proraoting
the raeasures of the crown, ever since I had any mflii-
ence in the province. It cannot, surely, be my promot
ing the change from a proprietary to a royal government.
If indeed I had, by speeches and writings, endeav
oured to raake his Majesty's governraent universafly
odious in the province ; if I had harangued by the week,
to all coraers and goers, on the pretended injustice and
oppressions of royal govemment, and the slavery of the
VOL. IV. 19 M

146 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
people under it ; if I had WTitten traitorous papers to
this purpose, and got thera translated into other lan
guages, to give his Majesty's foreign subjects here those
horrible ideas of it ; if I had dedared, written, and
printed, tbat " the King's Uttle finger we should find
heavier than the proprietor's whole loins," with regard
to our liberties ; then, indeed, might the ministers be
supposed to think unfavorably of me. But these are
not exploits for a man who holds a profitable office un
der the crown, and can expect to hold it no longer
than he behaves with the fideUty and duty that be
coraes every good subject. They are only for officers
of proprietary appointment, who hold their commissions
during his, and not the King's, pleasure ; and who, by
dividing araong theraselves and their relations offices
of raany thousands a year enjoyed by proprietary favor,
feel where to place their loyalty. I wish they were as
good subjects to his Majesty ; and perhaps they may
be so, when the proprietary interferes no longer.
Another of your reasons is, "that the proposal of
me for an agent is extreraely disagreeable to a very
great number of the most serious and reputable inhab
itants of the province; and the proof is, my havmg
been rejected at the last election, though I had repre
sented the city in assembly for fourteen years."
And do those of you, Gentlemen, reproach me with
this, who, among near four thousand voters, had scarce
ly a score more than I had ? It seems then, that your
elections were very near being rejections, and thereby
fumishing the sarae proof m your case that you pro
duce in mine, of your being likewise extremely disa
greeable to a very great number of the most serious
and reputable people. Do you, honorable Sir, reproach
me with this, who for almost twice fourteen years have
been rejected (if nat being chosen is to be rejected) by

REMARKS ON A PROTEST. 147
the same people; and (unable, with afl your wealth
and connexions, and the influence they give you, to
obtain an election in the county where you reside, and
the city where you were born, and are best known,)
have been obUged to accept a seat from one of the out
counties, the remotest of the province ! It is known,
Sh-, to the persons who proposed me, that I was first
chosen against my inclination, and against my entrea
ties that I might be suffered to remain a private man.
In §one of the fourteen elections you mention did I
ever appear as a candidate. I never did, dhectly or
indirectly, soUcit any man's votes. For six of the years
m which I was annuafly chosen, I was absent, residmg
m England ; during afl which time, your secret and
open attacks upon my character and reputation were
incessant; and yet you gained no ground. And can
you reafly, Gentlemen, find matter of triumph in this
rejection as you cafl it ? A raoraent's reflection on the
means by which it was obtained, must make you
asharaed of it.
Not only my duty to the crown, in carrying the post-
office act more duly into execution, was made use of
to exasperate the ignorant, as if I was increasing my
own profits, by picking their pockets; but my very
zeal in opposing the murderers, and supporting the au
thority of governraent, and even ray humanity with
regard to the innocent Indians under our protection,
were mustered among my offences, to stir up against
me those reUgious bigots, who are of afl savages the
most brutish. Add to this the numberless falsehoods
propagated as tmths ; and the many perjuries procured
among the wretched rabble brought to swear them
selves entitled to a vote ; and yet so poor a superiority
obtained at aU this expense of honor and conscience !
Can this. Gentlemen, be matter of triumph ? Enjoy it
then. Your exuflation, however, was short.

148 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Your artifices did not prevaU everywhere ; nor your
double tickets, and whole boxes of forged votes. A
great raajority of the new-chosen assembly were of
the old members, and remain uncorrupted. They stifl
stood firm for the people, and wiU obtain justice from
the proprietaries. But what does that avaU to you, who
are in the proprietary interest ? And what comfort
can it afford you, when, by the assembly's choice of an
agent, it appears that the same, to you obnoxious, raan
(notwithstanding afl your venomous invectives a^inst
him) StUl retains so great a share of the pubUc con
fidence ?
But " this step," you say, " gives you the raore Uvely
affliction, as it is taken at the very moraent when you
were informed by a meraber of the House, that the
govemor had assured hira of his having received in
structions frora the proprietaries, to give his assent to
the taxation of their estates, in the sarae manner that
the estates of other persons are to be taxed ; and also
to confirm, for the public use, the several squares form
erly clairaed by the city." O the force of friendship !
the power of interest! What poUteness they infuse
into a writer, and what delicate expressions they pro
duce !
The dispute between the proprietaries and us was
about the quantura, the rate of their taxation ; and not
about the raanner ; but now, when aU the world con-
derans thera for requhing a partial exeraption of their
estates, and they are forced to submit to an honest
equaUty, it is called " assenting to be taxed in the same
manner with the people." Their restitution of five
pubUc squares m the plan of the city, which they had
near forty years unjustly and dishonorably seized and
detained from us, (directing their surveyor to map
streets over them, in order to tum them into lots, and

REMARKS ON A PROTEST. 149
their officers to sefl a part of thera,) this their disgorg
ing is softly cafled confirming them for the public use ;
and instead of the plain words, "formeriy given to the
city by the first proprietary, then- father," we have the
cautious, pretty expression of " formerly claimed by the
city." Yes ; not only formerly, but always claimed,
ever since they were promised and given to encourage
the settiers ; and ever wUl be claimed, tiU we are put
m actual possession of them. It is pleasant, however,
to see how Ughtly and tenderly you trip over these
matters, as if you trod upon eggs.
But that " very moment," that precious moraent !
Why was it so long delayed ? Why were those heal
ing instructions so long withheld and concealed from
the people ? They were, it seems, brought over by Mr.
Aflen.* InteUigence was received by various hands
from London, that orders were sent by the proprieta
ries, from which great hopes were entertained of an
accoraraodation. Why was the bringing and the de
livery of such orders so long denied ? The reason is
easily understood. Messieurs Barclays, friends to both
proprietaries and people, wished for that gentieraan's
happy arrival ; hoping his influence, added to the power
and coraraissions the proprietaries had vested him with,
might prove effectual in restoring harraony and tran
quilUty among us. But he, it seeras, hoped his influ
ence raight do the business without these additions.
* Extract of a Letter, dated London, August 6th, 1764, from David
Barclay and Sons to Messieurs James and Drinker.
" We very much wish for William Allen's happy arrival on your side ;
when we hope his influence, added to the power and commissions the pro
prietaries have invested him with, may prove effectual in restoring har
mony and tranquillity among you, so much to be desired by every well-
wisher to your province. Pray be assured of our sincerest and best
wishes for the success of this salutary work, and that nothing in our
power to contribute thereto will ever be wanting." M*

150 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
There appeared, on his arrival, some prospect (from
sundry circurastances) of a change to be raade in the
House by the approaching election. The proprietary
friends and creatures knew the heart of their raaster,
and how extremely disagreeable to him that equal tax
ation, that restitution, and the other concessions to be
made for the sake of a reconcUiation, must necessarily
be. They hoped therefore to spare him aU those mor
tifications, and thereby secure a greater portion of his
favor. Hence the instmctions were not produced to the
last assembly ; though they arrived before the Septem
ber sitting, when the governor was in town, and actu
aUy did business with the House. Nor to the new as
sembly were they mentioned, tiU the "very moment"
the fatal raoraent, when the House were on the pomt
of choosing that wicked adversary of the proprietary,
to be an agent for the province in England.
But I have, you say, a "fixed enmity to the pro
prietaries," and " you beUeve it wiU preclude aU accom
modation of our disputes with them, even on just and
reasonable terms." And why do you think I have a
fixed enmity to the proprietaries ? I have never had
any personal difference with them. I am no land-
jobber ; and therefore have never had any thmg to do
with their land office or officers ; if I had, probably, Uke
others, I raight have been obUged to truckle to their
measures, or have had Uke causes of complaint. But
our private interests never clashed ; and aU their resent
ment against me, and mine to them, has been on the
pubUc account. Let them do justice to the people of
Pennsylvania, act honorably by the citizens of PhUadel
phia, and become honest men ; my enmity, if that 's
of any consequence, ceases from the "very moment,"
and, as soon as I possibly can, I promise to love, honoi^
and respect them.

REMARKS ON A PROTEST. 151
In the mean thne, why do you " beUeve it wifl pre
clude afl accommodation with them on just and reason
able terms ? " Do you not boast, that their gracious
condescensions are in the hands of the governor; and
that " if this had been the usual tirae for busmess, his
Honor would have sent thera down in a raessage to the
House." How then can my gomg to England prevent
this accomraodation ? The govemor can cafl the House
when he pleases ; and, one would think, that, at least
m your opinion, my being out of the way would be a
favorable circurastance. For then, by "cultivating the
disposition shown by the proprietaries, every reasonable
deraand that can be raade on the part of the people
might be obtained; in vigorously insisting on which,
you promise to unite more earnestly with the rest of the
House." It seems then we have " reasonable deraands "
to raake, and as you cafl them a Uttle higher, equitable
demands. This is much for proprietary minions to own ;
but you are afl growing better, in imitation of your
master, which is indeed very coraraendable. And, if the
accoramodation here shonld fafl, I hope that, though
you dislike the person a raajority of two to one in the
House have thought fit to appoint an agent, you wUl
nevertheless, in duty to your country, continue the no
ble resolution of uniting with the rest of the House in
vigorously insisting on that equity and justice, which
such an union wiU undoubtedly obtain for us.
I pass over the trivial charge against the assembly,
that they "acted with unnecessary haste in proceeding
to this appomtment, without making a smaU adjourn
ment," &,c., and your affected apprehensions of danger
from that haste. The necessity of expedition on this
occasion is as obvious to every one out of doors, as
it was to those within ; and the fears you raention are
not, I fancy, considerable enough to break your rest.

152 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
I come then to your high charge against me, " that I
heretofore ventured, contrary to an act of assembly, to
place the public raoney in the stocks ; whereby this
province suffered a loss of six thousand pounds, and
that sum, added to the five thousand pounds granted
for my expenses, raakes the whole cost of my former
voyage to England amount to eleven thousand pounds ! "
How wisely was that forra in our laws contrived, which,
when a raan is arraigned for his life, requires the evi
dence to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth! The reason is raanifest. A falsehood
may destroy the innocent ; so may part of a truth with
out the whole ; and a mixture of truth and falsehood
may be full as pernicious. You, Mr. Chief Justice, and
the other justices among the protesters, and you. Sir,
who are a CounseUor at Law, must afl of you be wefl
acquainted with this exceUent form ; and when you
arraigned my reputation (dearer to rae than Ufe) before
the assembly, and now at the respectable tribunal of
the pubUc, would it not have weU becorae your hon
ors to have had some smaU regard at least to the spirit
of that form ?
You might have mentioned, that the direction of the
act to lodge the raoney in the bank, subject to the
drafts of the trustees of the loan-office here, was ira
practicable ; that the bank refused to receive it on those
terras, it being contrary to their settied rules to take
charge of raoney subject to the orders of unknown
people living in distant countries. You raight have
raentioned, that the House, being informed of this, and
having no iraraediate caU for the raoney, did theraselves
adopt the measure of placing it in the stocks, which
then were low ; where it might on a peace produce a
considerable profit, and in the raean tirae accuraulate
an interest. That they even passed a bill, directing the

REMARKS ON A PROTEST. 153
subsequent suras granted by ParUament to be placed
with the forraer; that the measure was prudent and
safe; and that the loss arose, not from placing the
money in the stocks, but from the impmdent and un
necessary draioing it out at the very tirae when they
were lowest, on sorae slight uncertain ruraors of a peace
concluded ; that, if the assembly had let it remain an
other year, instead of losing, they would have gained
six thousand pounds ; and that, after all, since the ex
change at which they sold then- biUs was near twenty
per cent higher when they drew than when the stocks
were purchased, the loss was far from being so great as
you represent it.
AU these things you raight have said ; for they are,
and you know thera to be, part of the whole truth; but
they would have spoUed your accusation. The late
Speaker of your honorable House, Mr. Norris, (who has,
I suppose, aU ray letters to hira, and copies of his own
to me, relating to that transaction,) can testify with
how much integrity and clearness I raanaged the whole
affair. AU the House were sensible of it, being from
time to time fully acquainted with the facts. If I had
gone to gaming in the stocks with the pubUc money,
and through my fault a sura was lost, as your protest
would insinuate, why was I not censured and punished
for it when I returned ? You, honorable Sir, (my ene-
ipy of seven years' standing) were then in the House.
You were appointed on the coraraittee for examining
my accounts ; you reported, that you found them just,
and signed that report.*

* Report of the Committee on Benjamin Franklin's Accounts.
"February 19th, 1763. In obedience to the order of the House, we
have examined the account of Benjamin Franklin, • Esquire, with the
vouchers to us produced in support thereof, and do find the same account
to be just ; and that he has expended, in the immediate service of thia
VOL. IV. 20

154 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
I never sohcited the employ of agent ; I made iio
bargain for my future service, when I was ordered to
England by the assembly ; nor did they vote me any
salary. I Uved there near six years at ray own expense,
and I made no charge or demand when I carae home
You, Sir, of afl others, were the very member that pro
posed (for the honor and justice of the House) a com
pensation to be raade rae of the five thousand pounds
you mention. Was it with an intent to reproach me
thus publicly for accepting it ? I thanked the House
for it then, and I thank you now for proposing it ;
though you, who have Uved in England, can easfly
province, the sum of seven hundred and fourteen pounds, ten shiUings, and
seven pence, out of the sum ot fifteen hundred pounds sterling, to him re
mitted and paid, exclusive of any allowance or charge for his support and
services for the province.
"John Morton, John Hughes,
William Allen, Samuel Rhoads,
John Ross, John Wilkinson,
John Moor, Isaac Pearson.
Joseph Fox,
" The House, taking the foregoing report of the committee of accounts
into consideration, and having spent some time therein,
" Resolved,
"That the sum otfive hundred pounds sterling, per annum, be allowed
and given ta Benjamin Franklin, Esquire, late agent for the province of
Pennsylvania at the court of Great Britain, during his absence of six
years from hts business and connexions, in the service of the public ; and
that the thanks of this House be also given to tbe said gentieman by
Mr. Speaker, from the chair, as well for the faithful discharge of his duty
to this province in particular, as for the many and important servicef
done America in general, during his residence in Great Britain."
« Thursday, March 31st, 1763. Pursuant to a resolve of the 19th of
last month, that the thanks of this House be given to Benjamin Franklin,
Esquire, for his many services, not only to the province of Pennsylvania,
but to America in general, during his late agency at the court of Great
Britain, the same were this day accordingly given in form from the chair.
To which Mr. Franklin, respectfully addressing himself to the Speaker,
made answer, ' That he was thankful to the House, for the very handsome
and generous allowance they had been pleased to make him for his ser
vices ; but that the approbation of this House was, in his estimation, far
above every other land of recompense.' " — Votes, 1763.

REMARKS ON A PROTEST. 155
conceive, that, besides the prejudice to my private af-
fahs by my absence, a thousand pounds more would
not have reimbursed me.
The money voted was imraediately paid me. But, if
I had occasioned the loss of six thousand pounds to the
province, here was a fair opportunity of securing easily
the greatest part of it. Why was not the five thou
sand pounds deducted, and the reraainder cafled for?
The reason is, this accusation was not then invented.
Perrait rae to add, that, supposing the whole eleven
thousand pounds an expense occasioned by my voyage
to England ; yet the taxation of the proprietary estate
now estabUshed, wifl, when valued by years' purchase,
be found in time an advantage to the pubhc far exceed
ing that expense. And, if the expense is at present a
burden, the odiura of it ought to Ue on those, who, by
their injustice, raade the voyage necessary, and not on
me, who only submitted to the orders of the House in
undertaking it.
I am now to take leave (perhaps a last leave) of the
country I love, and in which I have spent the greatest
part of ray Ufe. Esto perpetua, I wish every kind of
prosperity to my friends ; and I forgive my enemies.
B. Franklin.
Philadelphia, JYovember 5th, 1764.

LETTER

CONCERNING THE

GRATITUDE OF AMERICA,
AND THE PROBABILITY AND EFFECTS OF A .UNION WITH GREAT
BRITAIN; AND CONCERNING THE REPEAL OR SUSPENSION OF
THE STAMP ACT. [London,] January 6th, 1766,
Sir,
I have attentively perused the paper you sent me,
and am of opinion, that the raeasure it proposes, of an
union with the colonies, is a wise one ; but I doubt it
wiU hardly be thought so here, tUl it is too late to at
tempt it. The time has been, when the colonies would
have esteemed it a great advantage, as weU as honor to
be permitted to send members to ParUament ; and
would have asked for that privUege, if they could have
had the least hopes of obtaining it. The time is now
come, when they are indifferent about it, and wUl
probably not ask it, though they might accept it if
offered them ; and the time wiU come, when they wifl
certainly refuse it. But if such an union were now es
tablished (which methinks it highly imports this coun
try to estabUsh) it would probably subsist as long as
Britain shafl continue a nation. This people, however,
is too proud, and too much despises the Americans, to
bear the thought of admitting them to such an equita
ble participation in the government of the whole.
Then the next best thing seeras to be, leaving them
in the quiet enjoyraent of their respective constitutions ;
and when money is wanted for any pubUc service, in
which they ought to bear a part, caUing upon them by

GRATITUDE OF AMERICA. 157
requisitorial letters frora the crown (according to the
long-estabUshed custora) to grant such aids as theu-
loyalty shaU dictate, and their abiUties permit. The
very sensible and benevolent author of that paper
seeras not to have known, that such a constitutional
custom subsists, and has always hitherto been practised
in America ; or he would not have expressed himself in
this raanner; "It is evident, beyond a doubt, to the
inteUigent and irapartial, that after the very extraordi
nary efforts, which were effectually raade by Great
Britam in the late war to save the colonists from de
stmction, and attended of necessity with an enormous
load of debts in consequence, that the same colonists,
now firraly secured from foreign enemies, should be
somehow induced to contribute sorae proportion towards
the exigencies of state in future." This looks as if he
conceived the war had been carried on at the sole ex
pense of Great Britain, and the colonies only reaped
the benefit, without hitherto sharing the burden, and
were therefore now indebted to Britain on that account.
And this is the same kind of arguraent that is used by
those, who would fix on the colonies the heavy charge
of unreasonableness and ingratitude, which I think your
fiiend did not intend.
Please to acquaint hira, then, that the fact is not so ;
that, every year during the war, requisitions were raade
by the crown on the colonies for raising raoney and
men; that accordingly they made raore extraordinary
efforts, in proportion to their abiUties, than Britain did ;
that they raised, paid, and clothed, for five or six years,
near twenty-five thousand raen, besides providing for
other services, as buUding forts, equipping guard-ships,
paying transports, &c. And that this was more than
their fair proportion is not merely an opinion of mine,
but was the judgraent of government here, in fufl
VOL. IV. N

158 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
knowledge of afl the facts ; for the then ministry, to
make the burthen more equal, recommended the case
to ParUament, and obtained a reimburseraent to the
Araericans of about two hundred thousand pounds
SterUng every year; which araounted only to about two
fifths of their expense ; and great part of the rest hes
StUl a load of debt upon thera ; heavy taxes on aU then:
estates, real and personal, being laid by acts of their
asserabUes to discharge it, and yet wiU not discharge it
in many years.
WhUe, then, these burdens continue ; whUe Britain
restrains the colonies in every branch of commerce and
manufactures that she thinks interferes with her own ;
whUe she drains the colonies, by her trade with them,
of aU the cash they can procure by every art and ui
dustry in any part of the world, and thus keeps them
always in her debt ; (for they can make no law to dis
courage the importation of your to them ruinous super
fluities, as you do the superfluities of France; since
such a law would imraediately be reported against by
your Board of Trade, and repealed by the crown ;) I
say, whUe these circumstances continue, and while there
subsists the estabUshed method of royal requisitions
for raising raoney on thera by their own assembUes on
every proper occasion ; can it be necessary or prudent
to distress and vex them by taxes laid here, in a Par
Uament wherein they have no representative, and in a
manner which they look upon to be unconstitutional and
subversive of their most valuable rights ? And are they
to be thought unreasonable and ungrateful tf they op
pose such taxes?
Wherewith, they say, shafl we show our loyalty to
our gracious King, if our money is to be given by
others, without asking our consent ? And, if the Par
Uament has a right thus to talte from us a penny in the

GRATITUDE OF AMERICA. 159
pound, where is the line drawn that bounds that right,
and what shall hinder their caUing, whenever they
please, for the other nineteen shUUngs and eleven
pence ? Have we then any thing that we can caU our
own? It is raore than probable, that bringing repre
sentatives from the colonies to sit and act here as mem
bers of ParUament, thus uniting and consoUdating your
dorainions, would in a Uttie tirae reraove these objec
tions and difficulties, and make the future government
of the cdlonies easy ; but, tiU some such thing is done,
I apprehend no taxes, laid there by ParUament here,
wiU ever be coUected, but such as must be stained with
blood ; and I am sure the profit of such taxes wifl
never answer the expense of coUectmg them, and that
the respect and affection of the Araericans to this coun
try wiU in the struggle be totaUy lost, perhaps never to
be recovered; and therewith aU the coramercial and
poUtical advantages, that might have attended the con
tinuance of this respect and this affection.
In my own private judgment, I think an iraraediate
repeal of the Stamp Act would be the best raeasure for
this country ; but a suspension of it for three years, the
best for that. The repeal would fiU them with joy and
gratitude, reestabUsh their respect and veneration for
Parliament, restore at once their ancient and natural
love for this country, and their regard for every thing
that coraes from it ; hence the trade would be renewed
in aU its branches ; they would again indulge in aU the
expensive superfluities you supply thera with, and their
own new-assumed home industry would languish. But
the suspension, though it might continue their fears and
anxieties, would at the same tune keep up their resolu
tions of industry and frugaUty ; which in two or three
years would grow into habits, to their lasting advantage.
However, as the repeal wiU probably not be now agreed

160 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
to,* from what I think a mistaken opinion, that the
honor and dignity of govemment is better supported
by persisting in a wrong measure once entered into,
than by rectUying an error as soon as it is discov
ered; we raust allow the next best thing for the ad
vantage of both countries, is the suspension ; for, as to
executing the act by force, it is raadness, and wUl be
ruin to the whole.
The rest of your friend's reasonings and propositions
appear to me truly just and judicious. I wiU therefore
only add, that I am as desirous of his acquaintance and
intimacy, as he was of my opinion.
I am, with much esteera,
Your obUged friend,
B. FRANKLIN.f

* It was however agreed to in the same year, viz. in 1766. — B. V.
f The name of the person, to whom this letter is addressed, is not
known. The letter, to which it is a reply, appears to have contained
the letter of some third person equally unknown. — B. V.

THE
EXAMINATION or
DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,
IN THE
BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS,
RELATIVE TO THE
REPEAL OP THE AMERICAN STAMP ACT,
IN 1766.

No previous event in the life of Dr. Franklin gave him so
much celebrity, as his exaraination before the House of Commons,
while the repeal of the Stamp Act was under discussion in Parlia
ment. The promptness and pertinency with which he replied to
every question, the perfect knowledge of the subject manifested in
his answers, his enlarged and sound views .of political and commer
cial affairs, and the boldness and candor with which he expressed
his sentiments, excited the surprise of his auditors, and were re
ceived with admiration by the public, when the results of the exam
ination appeared in print. The dates are fixed by the following
extracts from the journal of the House of Commons, as given by
Mr. Vaughan.
"February 3d, 1766. Benjamin Franklin and a number of
other persons ordered to attend the committee of the whole House,
to whom it was referred to consider farther the several papers,
which were presented to the House by Mr. Secretary Conway.
" February 13th. Benjamin Franklin, having passed through his
examination, was excepted from farther attendance.
" February 2it7i. The resolutions of the committee were re
ported by the chairman, Mr. Fuller; their seventh and last reso-
VOL. IV. 21 N*

162 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
lution setting forth, that it was their opinion that the House be
moved, that leave be given to bring in a bill to repeal the Stamp
Act." The account of the examination was first published in 1767,
without the name of printer or publisher. It was translated into
French, and widely circulated in Europe. It has been frequently
reprinted in both the English and French languages. — Editor.

Q, What is your name, and place of abode ?
A, Franklin, of PhUadelphia.
Q. Do the Americans pay any considerable taxes
among themselves?
A. Certainly many, and very heavy taxes.
Q, What are the present taxes in Pennsylvania,
laid by the laws of the colony ?
A, There are taxes on all estates real and personal ;
a pofl tax ; a tax on afl offices, professions, trades, and
businesses, according to their profits ; an excise on afl
wine, rum, and other spirits ; and a duty of ten pounds
per head on all negroes imported, with some other
duties. Q, For what purposes are those taxes laid ?
A. For the support of the civfl and raUitary estab
Ushraents of the country, and to discharge the heavy
debt contracted in the last war.
Q. How long are those taxes to continue ?
A. Those for discharging the debt are to continue
tUl 1772, and longer, if the debt should not be then aU
discharged. The others raust always continue.
Q. Was it ndt expected that the debt would have
been sooner discharged?
A. It was, when the peace was made with France
and Spain. But, a fresh war breaking out with the
Indians, a fresh load of debt was incurred; and the
taxes, of course, continued longer by a new law.

EXAMINATION. 163
Q. Are not afl the people very able to pay those
taxes? A. No. The frontier counties, afl along the conti
nent, having been frequently ravaged by the eneray and
greatly impoverished, are able to pay very Uttle tax.
And therefore, in consideration of their distresses, our
late tax laws do expressly favor those counties, excus-
mg the sufferers ; and I suppose the same is done m
other govemments.
Q. Are not you concemed in the management of
the post-office in America?
A. Yes. I am deputy-postmaster-general of North
America. Q. Don't you think the distribution of stamps by
post to all the inhabitants very practicable, if there was
no opposition?
A. The posts only go along the seacoasts ; they do
not, except in a few instances, go back into the country;
and, if they did, sending for staraps by post would oc
casion an expense of postage araounting in raany cases
to rauch more than that of the staraps theraselves.
Q. Are you acquainted with Newfoundland ?
A. I never was there.
Q. Do you know whether there are any post-roads
on that island?
A. I have heard that there are no roads at all, but
that the communication between one settiement and
another is by sea only.
Q. Can you disperse the stamps by post in Canada?
A. There is only a post between Montreal and Que
bec. The inhabitants hve so scattered and reraote from
each other in that vast country, that posts cannot be
supported among thera, and therefore they cannot get
staraps per post. The English colonies, too, along the
frontiers are very thinly settled.

164 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Q, Frora the thinness of the back settieraents, would
not the Starap Act be extremely inconvenient to the in
habitants, if executed ?
A, To be sure it would ; as many of the inhabitants
could not get staraps when they had occasion for them
without taking long journeys, and spending perhaps
three or four pounds, that the crown might get six
pence. Q, Are not the colonies, frora their circumstances,
very able to pay the stamp duty ?
A, In my opinion there is not gold and silver enough
in the colonies to pay the stamp duty for one year.*
Q. Don't you know that the money arising from
the staraps was aU to be laid out in America?
A. I know it is appropriated by the act to the
Araerican service ; but it wiU be spent in the con-,
quered colonies, where the soldiers are ; not in the,
colonies that pay it. (
Q. Is there not a balance of trade due frora tMe
colonies where the troops are posted, that wiU h£mg
back the money to the old colonies ? /
A, I think not. I beUeve very little wou|d come
back. I know of no trade Ukely to bring it bi,ick. I
think it would come, from the colonies where ^ it was
* The Stamp Act said, "that the Americans shall have no commerce,
make no exchange of property with each other, neither purchase, nor
grant, nor recover debts ; they shall neither marry nor make their wills,
unless they pay such and such sums " in specie for the stamps which must
give validity to the proceedings. The operation of such a tax, had it
obtained the consent of the people, appeared inevitable ; and its annual
productiveness, on its introduction, was estimated, by its proposer in the
House of Commons at the committee for supplies, at one hundred thou
sand pounds sterling. The colonies being already reduced to the neces
sity of having paper money, by sending to Britain tlie specie they col
lected in foreign trade, in order to make up for the deficiency of their
other returns for British manufactures, there were doubts whether there
could remain specie sufBcient to answer the tax. — B. V.

EXAMINATION. 165
spent, directly to England ; for I have always observed,
that in every colony the more plenty the means of re
mittance to England, the raore goods are sent for, and
the raore trade with England carried on.
Q. What nuraber of white inhabitants do you think
there are in Pennsylvania?
A. I suppose there may be about one hundred and
sixty thousand.
Q. What number of them are Quakers?
A, Perhaps a third.
Q, What number of Germans ?
A. Perhaps another third ; but I cannot speak with
certainty. Q, ¦ Have any number of the Gerraans seen service,
as soldiers, in Europe ?
A. Yes, many of them, both in Europe and Araerica.
Q. Are they as rauch dissatisfied with the starap
duty as the EngUsh?
A. Yes, and more ; and with reason, as their staraps
are, in many cases, to be double.*
Q, How many white raen do you suppose there are
in North America?
A, About three hundred thousand, from sixteen to
sixty years of age.f
* The Stamp Act provided, that a double duty should he laid " where
the instrument, proceedings, &c., shall be engrossed, written, or printed
within the said colonies and plantations, in any other than the Enghsh
language." This raeasure, it is presumed, appeared to be suggested by
motives of convenience, and the policy of assimilating persons of foreign
to those of British descent, and preventing their interference in the con
duct of law business till this change should be effected. It seems, how
ever, to have been deemed too precipitate, immediately to extend this
clause to newly conquered countries. An exemption therefore was
granted, in this particular, with respect to Canada and Grenada, for the
space of five years, to be reckoned from the commencement of the duty.
See the Stamp Act. — B. V.
f Strangers excluded, some parts of the northern colonies doubled
their numbers in fifteen or sixteen years ; to the southward they were

166 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Q, What may be the araount of one year's iraports
into Pennsylvania from Britain ?
A, I have hten informed that our merchants com
pute the iraports frora Britain to be above five hundred
thousand pounds.
Q, What raay be the araount of the produce of your
province exported to Britain ?
A, It must be smaU, as we produce Uttie that is
wanted in Britain. I suppose it cannot exceed forty
thousand pounds.
Q,' How then do you pay the balance ?
A, The balance is paid by our produce carried to
the West Indies, and sold in our own islands, or to the
French, Spaniards, Danes, and Dutch; by the sarae
produce carried to other colonies in North Araerica, as
to New England, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, CaroUna,
and Georgia ; by the sarae, carried to different parts
of Europe, as Spain, Portugal, and Italy. In aU which
places we receive either money, biUs of exchange, or
commodities that suit for remittance to Britain ; which,
together with aU the profits on the industry of our
merchants and mariners, arising in those circuitous voy
ages, and the freights made by their ships, centre finally
in Britain to discharge the balance, and pay for British
manufactures continuaUy used in the provinces, or sold
to foreigners by our traders.
Q, Have you heard of any difficulties lately laid on
the Spanish trade?
A. Yes ; I have heard, that it has been greatly ob
structed by some new regulations, and by the EngUsh
men-of-war and cutters stationed all along the coast
in America.
longer ; but, taking one with another, they had doubled, by natural gener
ation only, once in twenty-five years. Pennsylvania, including strangers,
had doubled in about sixteen years. — B. V.

EXAMINATION. 167
Q, Do you think it right that Araerica should be
protected by this country and pay no part of the
expense ? ^
A. That is not the case. The colonies raised,
clothed, and paid, during the last war, near twenty-five
thousand men, and spent many mUlions.
Q, Were you not reimbursed by Pai'Uament?
A. We were only reirabursed what, in your opinion,
we had advanced beyond our proportion, or beyond
what might reasonably be expected from us ; and it
was a very smaU part of what we spent. Pennsylvania,
m particular, disbursed about five hundred thousand
pounds, and the reimbursements, in the whole, did not
exceed sixty thousand pounds.
Q, You have said that you pay heavy taxes in
Pennsylvania ; what do they amount to in the pound ?
A, The tax on all estates, real and personal, is
eighteen pence in the pound, fully rated ; and the tax
on the profits of trades and professions, with other
taxes, do, I suppose, make fuU half a crown in the
pound. Q. Do you know any thing of the rate of ex
change in Pennsylvania, and whether it has faflen
lately ?
A. It is commonly from one hundred and seventy
to one hundred and seventy-five. I have heard, that it
has fallen lately from one hundred and seventy-five to
one hundred and sixty-two and a half; owing, I sup
pose, to their lessening their orders for goods; and,
when their debts to this country are paid, I think the
exchange wifl probably be at par.
Q. Do you not think the people of America would
submit to pay the starap duty, if it was moderated ?
A. No, never, unless corapefled by force of arras.

168 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Q. Are not the taxes in Pennsylvania laid on une
qually, in order to burden the EngUsh trade ; particu
larly the tax on professions and business ?
A. It is not more burdensome in proportion than
the tax on lands. It is intended and supposed to take
an equal proportion of profits.
Q. How is the assembly coraposed? Of what
kinds of people are the raerabers ; landholders or
traders ?
A. It is composed of landholders, raerchants, and
artificers. Q. Are not the majority landholders?
A. I believe they are.
Q. Do not they, as rauch as possible, shUl the tax
off from the land, to ease that, and lay the burden
heavier on trade ?
A. I have never understood it so. I never heard
such a thing suggested. And indeed an atterapt of
that kind could answer no purpose. The raerchant or
trader is always skiUed in figures, and ready with his
pen and ink. If unequal burdens are laid on his trade,
he puts an additional price on his goods ; and the con-
suraers, who are chiefly landholders, finaUy pay the
greatest part, if not the whole.
' Q. What was the temper of America towards Great
Britain before the year 1763?*
* In the year 1733, " for the welfare and prosperity of our sugar colo
nies in America," and "for remedying discouragements of planters,"
duties -were " given and granted" to George the Second, upon all rura,
spirits, molasses, syrups, sugar, and paneles of foreign growth, produce,
and manufacture, imported into the colonies. This regulation of trade,
for the benefit of the general empire was acquiesced in, notwithstanding
the introduction of the novel terms "give and grant." But the act,
which was made only for the term of five years, and had b6en several
times renewed in the reign of George the Second, and once in -ihe reign
of George the Third, was renewed again in the year 1763, in th6\reign

EXAMINATION. 169
A. The best in the worid. They subraitted wU-
Ungly to the government of the crown, and paid, in theu-
courts, obedience to the acts of . ParUament. Nuraer
ous as the people are in the several old provinces, they
cost you nothing in forts, citadels, garrisons, or armies,
to keep them in subjection. They were govemed by
this country at the expense only of a littie pen, ink, and
paper ; they were led by a thread. They had not only
a respect, but an affection for Great Britain ; for its
laws, its customs and raanners, and even a fondness for
its fashions, that greatly increased the coraraerce. Na
tives of Britam were always treated with particular
regard ; to be an Old-England man was, of itself, a
character of some respect, and gave a kind of rank
among us.
Q. And what is their temper now?
A. O, very rauch altered.
Q. Did you ever hear the authority of Parliaraent
to raake laws for America questioned tiU lately ?
A. The authority of ParUament was aUowed to be
valid in aU laws, except such as should lay intemal

of George the Third, and extended to other articles upon new and altered
grounds. It was stated in the preamble to this act, " that it was expe
dient that new provisions and regulations should be established for im
proving the revenue of this kingdom;" that it " was just and necessary that
a revenue should be raised in America for defending, protecting, and
securing the same ; " " and that the Commons of Great Britain, desirous
of making some provision towards raising the said revenue in America,
have resolved to give and grant to his Majesty the several rates and du
ties," &c. Mr. Mauduit, agent for Massachusetts Bay, tells us, that he
was instructed in the following terms to oppose Mr. Grenville's taxing sys
tem. " You are to remonstrate against these measures, and, if possible,
to obtain a repeal of the Sugar Act, and prevent the imposition of any
further duties or taxes on the colonies. Measures will be taken that you
may be joined by all the other agents. Boston, June lith, 1764."
The question proposed to Dr. Franklin alludes to this sugar act in 1763.
Dr. Franklin's answer particularly merits the attention of the historian
and the politician. — B. V.
VOL. IV. 22 o

170 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
taxes. It was never disputed in laying duties to reg
ulate commerce.
Q. In what proportion hath population increased in
America ?
A. I think the inhabitants of aU the provinces to
gether, taken at a medium, double in about twenty-five
years. But their demand for British raanufactures in
creases rauch faster ; as the consumption is not merely
in proportion to their nurabers, but grows with the
growing abiUties of the same numbers to pay for them.
In 1723, the whole importation from Britain to Penn
sylvania was about fifteen thousand pounds sterling ; it
is now near half a milUon.
Q. In what Ught did the people of Araerica use to
consider the Parharaent of Great Britain?
A. They considered the Parharaent as the great
bulwark and security of their liberties and privUeges,
and always spoke of it with the utraost respect and
veneration. Arbitrary ministers, they thoughtj might
possibly, at times, attempt to oppress them ; but they
reUed on it, that the ParUament, on appUcaticm, would
always give redress. They remembered, with gratitude,
a strong instance of this, when a biU was brought into
ParUament, with a clause to raake royal instructions
laws in the colonies, which the House of Commons
would not pass, and it was thrown out.
Q. And have they not stiU the same respect for
Parliament ?
A. No, it is greatly lessened.
Q. To what cause is that owing?
A. To a concurrence of causes ; the restraints lately
laid on their trade, by which the bringing of foreign gold
and silver into the colonies was prevented ; the prohibi
tion of raaking paper raoney among themselves, and
then deraanding a new and heavy tax by staraps.

EXAMINATION. 171
taking away, at the same time, trials by juries, and
refusing to receive and hear their humble petitions.
Q. Don't you think they would submit to the Stamp
Act, if it was modified, the obnoxious parts taken out,
and the duty reduced to some particulars of smaU
moraent ?
A, No, they wiU never subrait to it.
Q. What do you think is the reason that the people
in Araerica increase faster than in England ?
A. Because they raarry younger, and raore gen
erally. Q. Why so?
A, Because any young couple, that are industrious,
raay easily obtain land of their own, on which they can
raise a faraily.
Q. Are not the lower ranks of people raore at their
ease in Araerica than in England ?
A, They may be so, if they are sober and dUigent,
as they are better paid for their labor.
Q. What is your opinion of a futiare tax, imposed
on the same principle with that of the Stamp Act?
How would the .Americans receive it?
A. Just as they do this. They would not pay it.
Q. Have not you heard of the resolutions of this
House, and of the House of Lords, asserting the right
of ParUament relating to AratTica, including a power
to tax the people there? ^
A. Yes, I have he?:*d of such resolutions.
Q. What wiU be the opinion of the Araericans on
those resolutions?
•A. They wiU think thera unconstitutional and
unjust. Q. Was it an opinion in America before 1763, that
the ParUament had no right to lay taxes and duties
there ?

172 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
A. I never heard any objection to the right of lay-
mg duties to regulate commerce ; but a right to lay
internal taxes was never supposed to be in ParUament,
as we are not represented there.
Q. On what do you found your opinion, that the
people in America made any such distinction?
A, I know that whenever the subject has occurred
m conversation where I have been present, it has ap
peared to be the opinion of every one, that we could
not be taxed by a Parliament wherein we were not
represented. But the payraent of duties laid by an
act of Parharaent, as regulations of coraraerce, was
never disputed.
Q. But can you narae any act of assembly, or pub
lic act of any of your govemments, that made such
distinction ?
A. I do not know that there was any ; I think there
was never an occasion to raake any such act, tiU now
that you have atte'npted to tax us ; that has occasioned
resolutions of assembly, declaring the distinction, in
which I think elvery assembly on the continent, and
every member in\ every assembly, have been unaniraous.
Q, What, then, could occasion conversations on that
subject before tha^t tirae?
A. There was ila^l754 a proposition made, (I think
it came from hence,) thut in case of a war, which was
then apprehended, the govemors of the colonies should
meet, and order the levying of troops, buUding of forts,
and taking every other necessary measure for the gen
eral defence ; and should draw on the treasury here for
the sums expended, which were afterwards to be raised
in the colonies by a general tax, to be laid on them by
act of Parliament, This occasioned a good deal of
conversation on the subject ; and the general opinion
was, that the Pariiament neither would nor\ could lay

EXAMINATION. 173
any tax on us, tiU we were duly represented in ParUa
ment ; because it was not just, nor agreeable to the
nature of an English constitution.
Q, Don't you know there was a time in New York,
when it was under consideration to make an appUcation
to Parliaraent to lay taxes on that colony, upon a defi
ciency arising frora the assembly's refusing or neglect
ing to raise the necessary supplies for the support of the
civU governraent?
A, I never heard of it.
Q, There was such an appUcation under considera
tion in New York ; and do you apprehend they could
suppose the right of Parliaraent to lay a tax in America
was only local, and confined to the case of a deficiency
in a particular colony, by a refusal of its asserably to
raise the necessary supplies ?
A. They could not suppose such a case, as that
the assembly would not raise the necessary suppUes
to support its own government. An assembly that
would refuse it raust want comraon sense ; which can
not be supposed. I think there was never any such
case at New York, and that it must be a misrepresen
tation, or the fact must be misunderstood. I know there
have been some attempts, by ministerial instructions from
hence, to oblige the asserablies to settle perraanent sal
aries on governors, which they wisely refused to do ;
but I believe no asserably of New York, or any other
colony, ever refused duly to support governraent by
proper aUowances, from time to time, to public officers.
Q. But, in case a governor, acting by instruction,
should call on an assembly to raise the necessary sup
pUes, and the assembly should refuse to do it, do you
not think it would then be for the good of the people
of the colony, as well as necessary to govemment, that
the Parharaent should tax them ? 0*

174 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
A. I do not think it would be necessary. If an
assembly could possibly be so absurd, as to refuse rais
ing the suppUes requisite for the maintenance of gov
ernment among thera, they could not long remain in
such a situation ; the disorders and confusion occa
sioned by it raust soon bring them to reason.
Q. If it should not, ought not the right to be in
Great Britain of applying a remedy?
A, A right, only to be used in such a case, I should
have no objection to ; supposing it to be used raerely
for the good of the people of the colony.
Q. But who is to judge of that, Britain or the
colony ? ,
A, Those that feel can best judge. i
Q. You say the colonies have always submitte(« to
external taxes, and object to the right of ParUi?m«nt
only in laying internal taxes ; now can you sk)w, tl|at
there is any kind of difference between the two ta^es
to the colony on which they may be laid? /
A, I think the difference is very great. An ex/lernal
tax is a duty laid on commodities imported ; tha/t duty
is added to the first cost and other charges on th^e com
raodity, and, when it is offered to sale, makes a part of
the price. If the people do not hke it at that price,
they refuse it ; they are not obliged to pay it. But an
internal tax is forced from the people without their con
sent, if not laid by their own representatives. The
Stamp Act says, we shaU have no coraraerce, make no
exchange of property with each other, neither purchase,
nor grant, nor recover debts ; we shaU neither marry
nor make our wills, unless we pay such and such sums;
and thus it is intended to extort our money from us, or
ruin us by the consequences of refusing to pay it.
Q. But supposing the external tax or duty to be
laid on the necessaries of life, imported into your colony,

EXAMINATION. 175
wUl not that be the same thing in its effects as an in
temal tax?
A. I do not know a single article iraported into the
northern colonies, but what they can either do without,
or make themselves.
Q. Don't you think cloth from England absolutely
necessary to them?
A. No, by no raeans absolutely necessary ; with
industry and good raanageraent, they raay very weU
supply themselves with all they want.
Q. Wifl it not take a long time to estabUsh that
manufacture araong thera ; and raust they not in the
mean while suffer greatly ?
A. I think not. They have raade a surprising
progress already. And I am of opinion, that before
their old clothes are worn out, they wifl have new ones
of their own making.
Q. Caii they possibly find wool enough in North
America ?
A. They have taken steps to increase the wool.
They entered into general combinations to eat no more
larab ; and very few lambs were kUled last year. This
course, persisted in, wiU soon raake a prodigious differ
ence in the quantity of wool. And the establishing of
great raanufactories, like those in the clothing towns
here, is not necessary, as it is where the business is to
be carried on for the purposes of trade. The people
wUl aU spin, and work for themselves, in their own
houses. Q. Can there be wool and manufacture enough in
one or two years?
A. In three years, I think there may.
Q. Does not the severity of the winter, in the
northem colonies, occasion the wool to be of bad
quaUty ?

176 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
A, No ; the wool is very fine and good.
Q. In the more southern colonies, as in Virginia,
don't you know, that the wool is coarse, and only a
kind of hair ?
A, I don't know it. I never heard it. Yet I have
been sometiraes in Virginia. I cannot say I ever took
particular notice of the wool there, but I beUeve it is
good, though I cannot speak positively of it ; but Vir
ginia and the colonies south of it have less occasion for
wool ; their winters are short, and not very severe ; and
they can very weU clothe themselves with linen and
cotton of their own raising for the rest of the year.
Q. Are not the people in the raore northem colo
nies obUged to fodder their sheep aU the winter?
A. In some of the raost northem colonies they may
be obliged to do it, some part of the winter.
Q. Considering the resolutions of Pariiament,* as to
the right, do you think, if the Stamp Act is repealed,
that the North Americans wUl be satisfied ?
A. I beUeve they wiU.
Q. Why do you think so?
A. I think the resolutions of right wUl give them
very Uttie concern, if they are never attempted to be
carried into practice. The colonies wiU probably con
sider theraselves in the sarae situation, in that respect,
with Ireland ; they know you claim the same right with
regard to Ireland, but you never exercise it, and they
may beUeve you never wUl exercise it in the colonies,
any more than in Ireland, unless on sorae very extraor
dinary occasion.
Q. But who are to be the judges of that extraordi
nary occasion? Is not the ParUament?
A. Though the Pariiament may judge of the occa-
* Afterwards expressed in the Declaratory Act — B. V.

EXAMINATION. 177
sion, the people wiU think it can never exercise such
right, tifl representatives from the colonies are admitted
mto Pariiament ; and that, whenever the occasion arises,
representatives will be ordered.
Q. Did you never hear that Maryland, during the
last war, had refused to furnish a quota towards the
comraon defence ?
A. Maryland has been rauch misrepresented in that
raatter. Maryland, to ray knowledge, never refused to
contribute or grant aids to the crown. The assembUes,
every year during the war, voted considerable suras,
and forraed bUls to raise them. The bUls were, accord
ing to the constitution of that province, sent up to the
CouncU, or Upper House, for concurrence, that they
might be presented to the governor, in order to be
enacted into laws. Unhappy disputes between the two
Houses, arising from the defects of that constitution
principally, rendered aU the biUs but one or two, abor
tive. The proprietary's councU rejected thera. It is
true, Maryland did not then contribute its proportion ;
but it was, in ray opinion, the fault of the governraent,
not pf the people.
Q. Was it not talked of in the other provinces, as a
proper raeasure, to apply to Parharaent to corapel them?
A. I have heard such discourse ; but, as it was wefl
known that the people were not to blarae, no such ap
plication was ever raade, nor any step taken towards it.
Q. Was it not proposed at a public raeeting?
A. Not that I know of.
Q. Do you remember the aboUshing of the paper
currency in New England, by act of asserably ?
A. I do reraember its being abolished in the Massa
chusetts Bay.
Q. Was not Lieutenant-Govemor Hutchinson prin
cipaUy concerned in that transaction?
VOL. IV. 23

178 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
A. I have heard so.
Q. Was it not at that tirae a very unpopular law ?
A. I believe it raight, though I can say httie about
it, as I Uved at a distance frora that province.
Q. Was not the scarcity of gold and sflver an argu
ment used against abolishing the paper?
A, I suppose it was.*
Q. What is the present opinion there of that law?
Is it as unpopular as it was at first ?
A, I think it is not.
Q. Have not instmctions from hence been some
times sent over to govemors, highly oppressive and
unpolitical ?
A. Yes.
Q. Have not some govemors dispensed with them
for that reason ?
A. Yes, I have heard so.
Q. Did the Americans ever dispute the controllmg
power of Parliament to regulate the coraraerce ?
A. No.
Q. Can any thing less than a raiUtary force carry
the Starap Act into execution?
A. I do not see how a raUitary force can be appUed
to that purpose.
Q. Why raay it not?
A. Suppose a railitary force sent into America, they
wiU find nobody in arras ; what are they then to do ?
They cannot force a raan to take staraps who chooses
to do without thera. They wiU not find a rebeUion ;
they may indeed raake one.
Q. If die act is not repealed, what do you think wiU
be the consequences ?
A. A total loss of the respect and affection the
• See Remarks and Facts relative to American Paper Money. Vol. II.
p. 340.

EXAMINATION. 179
people of America bear to this country, and of afl the
commerce that depends on that respect and affection.
Q. How can the commerce be affected ?
A. You wifl find, that if the act is not repealed,
they wifl take a very Uttie of your manufactures in a
short tirae.
Q. Is it in their poAver to do without thera?
A. I think they may very wefl do without them.
Q. Is it their interest not to take them?
A. The goods they take from Britain are either
necessaries, mere conveniences, or superfluities. The
first, as cloth, &c., with a Uttle industry they can raake
at horae ; the second they can do without, till they are
able to provide them among themselves ; and the last,
which are much the greatest part, they wUl strike off
iraraediately. They are mere articles of fashion, pur
chased and consumed because the fashion in a re
spected country ; but wifl now be detested and rejected.
The people have already struck off, by general agree
ment, the use of all goods fashionable in mournings,
and many thousand pounds' worth are sent back as
unsalable. Q. Is it their interest to make cloth at home?
A. 1 think they may at present get it cheaper from
Britain ; I mean, of the same fineness and workman
ship ; but, when one considers other circumstances, the
restraints on their trade, and the difficulty of raaking
remittances, it is their interest to raake every "thing.
Q. Suppose an act of internal regulations con
nected with a tax ; how would they receive it ?
A. I think it would be objected to.
Q. Then no regulation with a tax would be sub
mitted to?
A. Their opinion is, that, when aids tb the crown
are wanted, they are to be asked of the several assera-

180 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
blies, according to the old established usage ; who wUl,
as they always have done, grant them freely. And
that their raoney ought not to be given away, without
their consent, by persons at a distance, unacquainted
with their circurastances and abUities. The granting
aids to the crown is the only raeans they have of rec
oramending themselves to their sovereign ; and they
think it extremely hard and unjust, that a body of raen,
in which they have no representatives, should raake a
raerit to itself of giving and granting what is not its
own, but theirs ; and deprive them of a right they es
teem of the utmost value and importance, as it is the
security of aU their other rights.
Q. But is not the post-office, which they have longr
received, a tax as wefl as a regulation ?
A. No ; the money paid for the postage of a letter
is not of the nature of a tax ; it is raerely a quantum
meruit for a service done ; no person is corapeUable tci^
pay the raoney if he does not choose to receive the
service. A man raay still, as before the act, send hi?
letter by a servant, a special messenger, or a friend, if
he thinks it cheaper and safer. (
Q. But do they not consider the regulations of the
post-office, by the act of last year, as a tax ?
A. By the regulations of last year the rate of post
age was generally abated near thirty per cent through
afl America ; they certainly cannot consider such abate
ment as a tax.
Q. If an excise was laid by Parliament, which they
might likewise avoid paying, by not consuming the ar
ticles excised, would they then not object to it ?
A. They would certainly object to it, as an excise
is unconnected with any service done, and is merely an
aid, which they think ought to be asked of them, and
granted by them, if they are to pay it; and can be

EXAMINATION. 181
granted for them by no others whatsoever, whom they
have not empowered for that purpose.
Q. You say they do not object to the right of Par
hament, in laying duties on goods to be paid on their
importation ; now, is there any kind of difference be
tween a duty on the importation of goods, and an ex
cise on their consumption ?
A. Yes, a very material one ; an excise, for the
reasons I have just mentioned, they think you can have
no right to lay within their country. But the sea is
yours ; you maintain, by your fleets, the safety of navi
gation in it, and keep it clear of pirates; you raay
have, therefore, a natural and equitable right to some toll
or duty on merchandises carried through that part of
your dominions, towards defraying the expense you are
at in ships to maintain the safety of that carriage.
Q. Does this reasoning hold in the case of a duty
laid on the produce of their lands exported? And
would they not then object to such a duty ?
A. If it tended to make the produce so much
dearer abroad, as to lessen the deraand for it, to be
sure they would object to such a duty ; not to your
right of laying it, but they would coraplain of it as a
burden, and petition you to lighten it.
Q. Is not the duty paid on the tobacco exported, a
duty of that kind?
A. That, I think, is only on tobacco carried coast
wise, from one colony to another, and appropriated as
a fund for supporting the coUege at WiUiarasburg in
Virginia. Q. Have not the asserablies in the West Indies the
same natural rights with those in North America?
A. Undoubtedly.
Q. And is there not a tax laid there on their
sugars exported ?
VOL. IV P

182 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
A. I am not much acquainted with the West Indies ;
but the duty of four and a half per cent on sugars ex
ported was, I believe, granted by their own asserabUes,
Q. How much is the pofl-tax in your province laid
on unmarried raen?
A. It is, I think, fifteen shillings, to be paid by every
single freeman, upwards of twenty-one years old.
Q. What is the annual amount of aU the taxes in
Pennsylvania ?
A. I suppose about twenty thousand pounds sterUng.
Q. Supposing the Starap Act continued and enforced,
do you iraagine that iU huraor wiU induce the Ameri
cans to give as much for worse manufactures of their
own, and use them, preferable to better of ours ?
A. Yes, I think so. People wUl pay as freely to
gratify one passion as another, their resentment as their
pride. Q. Would the people at Boston discontinue then-
trade ?
A. The raerchants are a very sraafl nuraber com
pared with the body of the people, and must discon
tinue their trade, if nobody wifl buy their goods. .
Q. What are the body of the people in the colonies 7
A. They are farraers, husbandraen, or planters.
Q. Would they suffer the produce of their lands
to rot?
A. No ; but they would not raise so much. They
would raanufacture raore, and plough less.
Q. Would they Uve without the administration of
justice in civU matters, and suffer afl the inconveniences
of such a situation for any considerable time, rather than
take the staraps, supposing the staraps were protected
by a sufficient force, where every one might have them?
A. I think the supposition impracticable, that the
stamps should be so protected as that every one might

EXAMINATION. 183
have them. The act requires sub-distributors to be ap
pointed in every county town, district, and viUage, and
they would be necessary. But the principal distribu
tors, who were to have had a considerable profit on the
whole, have not though; it worth while to continue
in the office ; and I think it impossible to find sub
distributors fit to be trusted, who, for the trifling profit
that raust corae to their share, would incur the odium,
and run the hazard, that would attend it ; and, if they
could be found, I think it irapracticable to protect the
• staraps in so raany distant and reraote places.
Q. But in places where they could be protected,
would not the people use them, rather than reraam in
such a situation, unable to obtain any right, or recover
by law any debt ?
A. It is hard to say what they would do. I can
only judge what other people wUl think, and how they
wiU act, by what I feel within myself. I have a great
many debts due to me in America, and I had rather
they should reraain unrecoverable by any law, than
subrait to the Stamp Act. They wUl be debts of honor.
It is ray opinion the people wiU either continue in that
situation, or find some way to extricate theraselves ;
perhaps by generally agreeing to proceed in the courts
without staraps.
Q. What do you think a sufficient mUitary force to
protect the distribution of the staraps m every part of
Araerica ?
A. A very great force, I can't say what, if the dispo
sition of America is for a general resistance.
Q. What is the number of men in America able to
bear arms, or of disciplined mUitia ?
A. There are, I suppose, at least 
[Question objected io. He withdrew. Called in
again.']

184 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Q. Is the American Stamp Act an equal tax on the
country ?
A. I think not.
Q. Why so?
A, The greatest part of the raoney raust arise from
lawsuits for the recovery of debts, and be paid by the
lower sort of people, who were too poor easily to pay
their debts. It is, therefore, a heavy tax on the poor,
and a tax upon them for being poor.
Q. But wifl not this increase of expense be a
means of lessening the nuraber of lawsuits?
A, I think not; for as the costs afl faU upon the
debtor, and are to be paid by him, they would be no
discouragement to the creditor to bring his action.
Q. Would it not have the effect of excessive usury?
A. Yes; as an oppression of the debtor.
Q. How many ships are there laden annually in
North America with flax-seed for Ireland ?
A. I cannot speak to the nuraber of ships ; but I
know, that, in 1752, ten thousand hogsheads of flax
seed, each containing seven bushels, were exported
from PhUadelphia to Ireland. I suppose the quantity is
greatly increased since that tirae, and it is understood,
that the exportation frora New York is equal to that
frora PhUadelphia.
Q. What becoraes of the flax that grows with that
flax-seed ?
A, They raanufacture sorae into coarse, and sorae
into a raiddling kind of lmen.
Q. Are there any sUtting-raUls in America?'
A, I think there are three, but I believe only one
at present employed. I suppose they wUl afl be set
to work, if the interruption of the trade continues.
Q. Are there any fuUing mUls there?
A. A great many. -^

EXAMINATION. 185
Q. Did you never hear, that a great quantity of
stockings were contracted for, for the army, during the
war, and manufactured in PhUadelphia?
A. I have heard so.
Q. If the Stamp Act should be repealed, would not
the Americans think they could oblige the Parliament
to repeal every external tax law now in force ?
A. It is hard to answer questions of what people at
such a distance wiU think.
Q. But what do you iraagine they wiU think were
the raotives of repeaUng the act?
A. I suppose they wUl think, that it was repealed
fix)m a conviction of its inexpediency ; and they wUl
rely upon it, that, whUe the sarae inexpediency subsists,
you wifl never attempt to make such another.
Q. What do you mean by its inexpediency?
A. I mean its inexpediency on several accounts ; the
poverty and inabUity of those who were to pay the tax,
the general discontent it has occasioned, and the im-
practicabUity of enforcing it.
Q. If the act should be repealed, and the legislature
should show its resentment to the opposers of the
Starap Act, would the colonies acquiesce in the author
ity of the legislature? What is your opinion they
would do?
A. I don't doubt at all, that if the legislature repeal
the Stamp Act, the colonies wiU acquiesce in the au
thority. Q. But if the legislature should think fit to ascer
tain its right to lay taxes, by any act laying a smaU tax,
contrary to their opinion, would they submit to pay
the tax?
A. The proceedings of the people in America have
been considered too rauch together. The proceedings
of the asserablies have been very different frora those
VOL. IV. 24 p*

186 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
of the mobs, and should be distinguished, as having
no connexion with each Dther. The assemblies have
only peaceably resolved what they take to be their
rights ; they have taken no raeasures for opposition by
force, they have not built a fort, raised a man, or pro
vided a grain of araraunition, in order to such opposi
tion. The ringleaders of riots, they think ought to be
punished ; they would punish them themselves, if they
could. Every sober, sensible man, would wish to see
rioters punished, as, otherwise, peaceable people have
no security of person or estate ; but as to an intemal
tax, how smaU soever, laid by the legislature here on
the people there, whUe they have no representatives in
this legislature, I think it wiU never be subraitted to;
they wiU oppose it to the last ; they do not consider it
as at afl necessary for you to raise raoney on them by
your taxes ; because they are, and always have been,
ready to raise money by taxes among themselves, and
to grant large suras, equal to their abilities, upon requi
sition from the crown.
They have not only granted equal to their abiUties,
but, during aU the last war, they granted far beyond
their abilities, and beyond their proportion with this
country (you yourselves being judges), to the amount
of many hundred thousand pounds ; and this they did
freely and readily, only on a sort of promise, from the
Secretary of State, that it should be recommended to
Parliament to make them compensation. It was ac
cordingly recomraended to ParUament, in the most hon
orable manner for them. America has been greatly
misrepresented and abused here, in papers, and pam
phlets, and speeches, as ungrateful, and unreasonable,
and unjust ; in having put this nation to an imraense
expense for their defence, and refusing to bear any part
of that expense. The colonies raised, paid, and clothed

EXAMINATION. 187
near twenty-five thousand raen during the last war ; a
number equal to those sent frora Britain, and far be
yond their proportion ; they went deeply into debt in
doing this, and aU their taxes and estates are mortgaged
for raany years to come, for discharging that debt.
Govemment here was at that time very sensible of
this. The colonies were recoraraended to Parharaent.
Every year the King sent down to the House a written
message to this purpose ; " that his Majesty, being
highly sensible of the zeal and vigor with which his
faithful subjects in North America had exerted them
selves, in defence of his Majesty's just rights and pos
sessions, recomraended it to the House to take the
sarae into consideration, and enable hira to give them a
proper compensation." You wiU find those messages
on your own journals every year of the war to the very
last ; and you did accordingly give two hundred thou
sand pounds annually to the crown, to be distributed
in such compensation to the colonies.
This is the strongest of aU proofs, that the colonies,
far frora being unwUUng to bear a share of the burden,
did exceed their proportion ; for if they had done less,
or had only equaUed their proportion, there would have
been no roora or reason for corapensation. Indeed, the
sums, reimbursed them, were by no raeans adequate to
the expense they incurred beyond their proportion ; but
they never raurraured at that ; they esteeraed their
sovereign's approbation of their zeal and fideUty, and
the approbation of this House, far beyond any other
kind of corapensation ; therefore there was no occasion
for this act, to force raoney frora a willing people. They
had not refused giving money for the purposes of-the
act ; no requisition had been made ; they were always
wUling and ready to do what could reasonably be ex
pected from them, and in this Ught they wish to be
considered.

188 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Q, But suppose Great Britain should be engaged in
a war in Europe, would North America contribute to
the support of it ?
A. I do think they would as far as their circum
stances would permit. They consider themselves as a
part of the British empire, and as having one common
interest with it ; they raay be looked on here as for
eigners, but they do not consider themselves as such.
They are zealous for the honor and prosperity of this
nation ; and, whUe they are weU used, wiU always be
ready to support it, as far as their Uttie power goes.
In 1739 they were called upon to assist in the expedi
tion against Carthagena, and they sent three thousand
raen to join your array. It is true, Carthagena is in
Araerica, but as remote from the northern colonies, as
if it had been in Europe. They make no distinction
of wars, as to their duty of assisting in them.
I know the last war is commonly spoken of here, as
entered into for the defence, or for the sake, of the
people in America. I think it is quite misunderstood.
It began about the Umits between Canada and Nova
Scotia ; about territories to which the crown indeed laid
claim, but which were not claimed by any British col
ony ; none of the lands had been granted to any col
onist ; we had therefore no particular concern or in
terest in that dispute. As to the Ohio, the contest
there began about your right of trading in the Indian
country, a right you had by the treaty of Utrecht,
which the French infringed ; they seized the traders
and their goods, which were your raanufactures ; they
took a fort which a company of your raerchants, and
thesr factors, and correspondents, had erected there to
secure that trade. Braddock was sent with a| army
to retake that fort, (which was looked on here as an-
bther encroachment on the King's territory,) and to

EXAMINATION. 189
protect your trade. It was not tiU after his defeat, that
the colonies were attacked.* They were before in per
fect peace with both French and Indians ; the troops
were not, therefore, sent for their defence.
The trade with the Indians, though carried on in
America, is not an Araerican interest. The people of
Araerica are chiefly farmers and planters ; scarce any
thing that they raise or produce is an article of commerce
with the Indians. The Indian trade is a British inter
est ; it is carried on with British raanufactures, for the
profit of British raerchants and raanufacturers ; there
fore the war, as it commenced for the defence of terri
tories of the crown (the property of no Araerican), and
for the defence of a trade purely British, was really a
British war, and yet the people of Araerica raade no
scruple of contributing their utraost towards carrying it
on, and bringing it to a happy conclusion.
Q, Do you think, then, that the taking possession
of the King's territorial rights, and strengthening the
frontiers, is not an Araerican interest?
A. Not particularly, but conjointly a British and an
Ara^ican interest.
Q, You wUl not deny, that the preceding war, the
war with Spain, was entered into for the sake of
Araerica; was it not occasioned by captures raade in
the Araerican seas ?
A. Yes ; captures of ships carrying on the British
trade there with British raanufactures.

* When this army was in the utmost distress, from the want of wag
ons, Slc, our author and his son voluntarily traversed the country, in
order to collect a sufficient quantity; and they had zeal and address
enough to effect their purpose, upon pledging themselves, to the amount
of many thousand pounds, for payment. It was just before Dr. Frank
lin's last return from England to America, that the accounts m this
transaction were passed at the British treasury. — B. V.

190 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Q, Was not the late war with the Indians, smce
the peace with France, a war for America only ?
A. Yes ; it was raore particularly for Araerica
than the forraer; but was rather a consequence or
reraains of the forraer war, the Indians not having been
thoroughly pacified ; and the Americans bore by much
the greatest share of the expense. It was put an end
to by the army under General Bouquet ; there were
not above three hundred regulars in that array, and
above one thousand Pennsylvanians.
Q. Is it not necessary to send troops to America,
to defend the Americans against the Indians ?
A. No, by no means; it never was necessary.
They defended theraselves when they were but a
handful, and the Indians rauch more numerous. They
continually gained ground, and have driven the Indians
over the mountains, without any troops sent to theu*
assistance from this country. And can it be thought
necessary now to send troops for their defence from
those diminished Indian tribes, when the colonies have
become so populous and so strong ? There is not the
least occasion for it ; they are very able to defend
theraselves. Q, Do you say there were not more than three
hundred regular troops employed in the late Indian
war? A, Not on the Ohio, or the frontiers of Pennsyl
vania, which was the chief part of the war tiiat affected
the colonies. There were garrisons at Niagara, Fort
Detroit, and those remote posts kept for the sake of
your trade ; I did not reckon thera ; but I believe, that
on the whole the number of Americans or provincial
troops, employed in the war, was greater than that of
the regulars. I am not certain, but I think so.

EXAMINATION. 191
Q. Do you think the asserablies have a right to
levy money on the subject there, to grant to the crown ?
A. I certainly think so ; they have always done it.
Q. Are they acquainted with the declaration of
rights? And do they know, that, by that statute,
money is not to be raised on the subject but by con
sent of ParUament ?
A. They are very wefl acquainted with it.
Q. How then can they think they have a right to
levy raoney for the crown, or for any other than local
purposes ?
A. They understand that clause to relate to sub
jects only within the realra ; that no raoney can be
levied on thera for the crown, but by consent of Par
Uament. The colonies are not supposed to be within
the realm ; they have asserablies of their own, which
are their parUaraents, and they are, in that respect, in
the sarae situation with Ireland. When raoney is to be
raised for the crown upon the subject in Ireland, or in
the colonies, the consent is given in the Parliament of
Ireland, or in the assemblies of the colonies. They
think the Parliaraent of Great Britain cannot properly
give that consent, till it has representatives frora Amer
ica ; for the petition of right expressly says, it is to be
by common consent in Parliament ; and the people of
America have no representatives in ParUament, to make
a part of that comraon consent.
Q. If the Starap Act should be repealed, and an act
should pass, ordering the asserablies of the colonies to
inderanify the sufferers by the riots, would they obey it ?
A. That is a question I cannot answer.
Q.I Suppose the King should require the colonies
to ^rant a revenue, and the ParUament should be
agai/hst their doing it, do they think they can grant a
revenue to the King, without the consent of the Par-
Ua'ment of Great Britain?

192 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
A. That is a deep question. As to my own opm
ion, I should think rayself at liberty to do it, and should
do it, if I liked the occasion.
Q. When raoney has been raised in the colonies,
upon requisitions, has it not been granted to the King ?
A. Yes, always; but the requisitions have gener
ally been for some service expressed, as to raise, clothe,
and pay troops, and not for money only.
Q. If the act should pass requiring the American
assemblies to make compensation to the sufferers, and
they should disobey it, and then the ParUament should,
by another act, lay an internal tax, would they then
obey it?
A, The people will pay no internal tax ; and, I
think, an act to oblige the assembUes to make compen
sation is unnecessary ; for I ara of opinion, that, as soon
as the present heats are abated, they wiU take the
matter into consideration, and if it is right to be done,
they wiU do it of themselves.
Q, Do not letters often come into the post-offices
in America, directed to some inland town where no
post goes?
A, Yes.
Q, Can any private person take up those letters
and carry them as directed?
A, Yes ; any friend of the person may do it, pay
ing the postage that has accrued.
Q. But must not he pay an additional postage for
the distance to such inland town ?
A. No.
Q, Can the post-master answer deUvermg the letter,
without being paid such additional postage? ^
A, Certainly he can demand notiiing, wherti he
does no service.
Q, Suppose a person, being far from home, fine

EXAMINATION. 193
letter in a post-office directed to him, and he lives in a
place to which the post generally goes, and the letter
is directed to that place ; wUl the post-master deliver
him the letter, without his paying the postage receiv
able at the place to which the letter is directed ?
A, Yes; the office cannot demand postage for a
letter that it does not carry, or farther than it does
carry it.
Q, Are not ferry-men in America obUged, by act
of ParUament, to carry over the posts without pay?
A. Yes.
Q. Is not this a tax on the ferry -men?
A. They do not consider it as such, as they have
an advantage from persons travelling with the post.
Q. If the Stamp Act should be repealed, and the
crown should make a requisition to the colonies for a
sura of raoney, would they grant it ?
A. I beUeve they would.
Q. Why do you think so?
A. I can speak for the colony I live in ; I had it in
instruction from the asserably to assure the ministry,
that, as they always had done, so they should always
thii(k it their duty, to grant such aids to the crown as
were suitable to their circurastances and abiUties, when
ever called upon for that purpose, in the usual consti
tutional manner ; and I had the honor of communi
cating this instruction to that honorable gentleman then
minister.*

* I take the following to be the history of this transaction. Until
1763, and the years following, whenever Great Britain wanted supphes
directly from the colonies, the Secretary of State, in his Majesty's name,
sent them a letter of requisition, in which the occasion for supplies was
expressed ; and the colonies returned a free gift, the mode of levying
which they wholly prescribed. At this period, a chancellor of the ex
chequer (Mr. George Grenville) steps forth, and says to the House of
Commons ; " We must call for money from ihe colonies in the way of a
VOL. IV. 25 Q

194 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Q. Would they do this for a British concem, as
suppose a war m some part of Europe, that did not
affect them?
A. Yes, for any thing that concerned the general
interest.. They consider themselves a part of the
whole. Q. What is the usual constitiitional raanner of cafl-
ing on the colonies for aids?
A. A letter frora the Secretary of State.
Q. Is this afl you raean; a letter frora the Secre
tary of State? ^
A. I raean the usual way of requisition, in a circu
lar letter from the Secretary of State, by his Majesty's
command, reciting the occasion, and recomraending it
to the colonies to grant such aids as became their loyaj^-
ty, and were suitable to their abiUties. -i
Q. Did the Secretary of State ever write for money
for the crown ?
A, The requisitions have been to raise, clothe, and
pay. men, which cannot be done without money, j
Q. Would they grant money alone, if cafled on ?
A, In my opinion they would, money as wefl as
men, when they have raoney, or can make it. /
tax;" and to the colony agents, " Write to your several colonies, and tell
them, if they dislike a duty upon stamps, and prefer any other method of
raising the money themselves, I shall be content, provided ihe amount 5e
but raised." " That is," observed the colonies, when comraenting upon
his terms, " if we will not tax ourselves, as we may be directed, the Par
hament will tax us." Dr. Franklin's instructions, spoken of above, re
lated to this gracious option. As the colonies could not choose " another
tax," while they disclaimed every tax, the Parliament passed the Stamp
Act. it seems, that the only part of the offer, which bore a show of favor,
was the grant of the mode of levying ; and this was the only circum
stance which was not new.
See Mr. Mauduit's account of Mr. Grenville's conference with the
agents, confirmed by the agents for Georgia and Virginia; and Mr.
Burke's Speech, in 1774, p. 55. — B. V.

EXAMINATION. 195
Q If the ParUament should repeal the Stamp Act,
wfll the assembly of Pennsylvania rescmd theu* reso
lutions ?
A. I think hot.
Q. Before there was any thought of the Stamp
Act, did they wish for a representation in ParUament ?
A. No.
Q. Don't you know, that there is, in the Pennsyl
vania charter, an express reservation of the right of
ParUament to lay taxes there?
A. I know there is a clause in the charter, by
which the King grants, that he wifl levy no taxes on
the mhabitants, unless it be with the consent of the
asserably, or by act of Parharaent.
Q. How, then, could the asserably of Pennsylvania
assert, that laying a tax on them by the Stamp Act was
an infringeraent of their rights ?
A. They understand it thus ; by the same charter,
and otherwise, they are entitled to all the privileges and
Uberties of EngUshmen ; they find in the Great Charters,
and the Petition and Declaration of Rights, that one of
the (privUeges of EngUsh subjects is, that they are not
to be taxed but by their common consent ; they have
therefore reUed upon it, froni the first settiement of the
province, that the Pariiament never would, nor could,
by color of that clause in the charter, assurae a right of
taxing them, tifl it had quaUfied itseU" to exercise such
right, by admitting representatives from the people to
be taxed. Who ought to make a part of that comraon
consent. Q. Are there any words hi the charter that justify
that construction?
A. " The coramon rights of EngUshmen," as de
clared by Magna Charta, and the Petition of Right,
afl justUy it.

196 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Q. Does the distinction between intemal and ex
ternal taxes exist in the words of the charter?
A. No, I beUeve not.
Q. Then, may they not, by the same interpretation,
object to the Parham en t's right of extemal taxation ?
A. They never have hitherto. Many arguraents
have been lately used here to show them, that there is
no difference, and that, if you have no right to tax
them intemally, you have none to tax thera externally,
or make any other law to bind thera. At present
they do not reason so ; but in time they may possibly
be convinced by these arguments.
Q. Do not the resolutions of the Pennsylvania as
sembly say, "aU taxes"?
A. If they do, they mean only intemal taxes ; the
same words have not always the same meaning here
and in the colonies. By taxes, they mean internal
taxes ; by duties, they mean customs ; these are their
ideas of the language.
Q. Have you not seen the resolutions of the Massa
chusetts Bay assembly ?
A. I have.
Q. Do they not say, that neither extemal nor' in
temal taxes can be laid on them by ParUament ?
A. I don't know that they do ; I beUeve not.
Q. If the sarae colony should say, neither tax nor
imposition could be laid, does not that province hold
the power of Parliament can lay neither?
A. I suppose, that, by the word imposition, they do
not intend to express duties to be laid on goods im
ported, as regulations of commerce.
Q. What can the colonies mean then by hnposition,
as distinct frora taxes?
A. They raay raean raany things, as irapressmg
of men or of carriages, quartering troops on private

EXAMINATION. 197
houses, and the Uke ; there raay be great unpositions
that are not properly taxes.
Q. Is not the post-office rate an internal tax laid
by act of Pariiaraent ?
A. I have answered that.
Q, Are aU parts of the colonies equaUy able to pay
taxes ?
A, No, certainly ; the frontier parts, which have
been ravaged by the enemy, are greatly disabled by
that raeans ; and therefore, in such cases, are usuaUy
favored in our tax laws.
Q, Can we, at this distance, be corapetent judges
of what favors are necessary ?
A. The ParUament have supposed it, by clairaing a
r^ht to raake . tax laws for Araerica ; I think it ira-
pdssible. Q. Would the repeal of the Starap Act be any
discourageraent of your raanufactures ? WUl the people
that have begun to manufacture decline it ?
A. Yes, I think they wUl ; especially if, at the sarae
tirae, the trade is opened again, so that reraittances
can be easily raade. I have known several instances
that raake it probable. In the war before last, tobacco
being low, and raaking little reraittance, the people of
Virginia went generally into famUy manufactures. After
wards, when tobacco bore a better price, they returned
to the use of British manufactures. So fulUng-miUs
were very rauch disused in the last war in Pennsylva
nia, because bUls were then plenty, and remittances
could easily be made to Britain for English cloth and
other goods.
Q, If the Stamp Act should be repealed, would it
mduce the assemblies of America to acknowledge the
rights of ParUament to tax them, and would they
erase their resolutions ?

198 ..FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
A. No, never.
Q. Are there no means of obUging them to erase
those resolutions?
A. None that I know of; they wUl never do it,
unless compeUed by force of arms.
Q, Is there a power on earth that can force them
to erase thera?
A, No power, how great soever, can force raen to
change their opinions.
Q, Do they consider the post-office as a tax, or as
a regulation? A, Not as a tax, but as a regulation and conven
iency; every assembly encouraged it, and supported
it in its infancy, by grants of money, which they would
not otherwise have done ; and the people have alvf'^s
paid the postage. ' /
Q. When did you receive the instructions }\ou
mentioned ?
A. I brought them with me, when I ca&ie to Ejig-
land, about fifteen months since.
Q. When did you communicate that instruction to,
the minister?
A, Soon after my arrival, whUe the staraping vOt]
Araerica was under consideration, and before theljUl
was brought in.
Q, Would it bfe raost for the interest of Great
Britain, to employ the hands of Virginia in tobacco,
or in raanufactures?
A. In tobacco, to be sure.
Q. What used to be the pride of the Araericans ?
A, To indulge in the fashions and raanufactures
of Great Britain.
Q, What is now their pride?
A, To wear their old clothes over again, tUl they
can make new ones. Withdrew.

EXAMINATION. 199
NOTE.
In Mr. Walsh's " Life of Franklin," contained in Delaplaine's Reposi
tory are some curious remarks on the preceding examination, transcribed
from a manuscript written by Dr. Frankhn in reply to a friend, who
desired to know by whom the several questions were put. These re
marks are as follows.
"I have numbered the questions," says Dr. Franklin, "for the sake
of making references to them.
" Qll. 1, is a question of form, asked of every one that is examined. —
Qu. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, were asked by Mr. Hewitt, a raember for Coventry,
a friend of ours, and were designed to draw out the answers that fol
low ; being the substance of what I had before said to hira on the sub
ject, to remove a common prejudice, that the Colonies paid no taxes,
and that their governments were supported by burdening the people
here ; Qm. 7, was particularly intended to show by the answer, that Par
liaraent could not properly and equally lay taxes in America, as they
could not, by reason of their distance, be acquainted with such circum
stances as might make it necessary to spare particular parts. — Qu. 8 to
13, asked by Mr. Huske, another friend, to show the impracticability of
distributing the Staraps in America. — Q«, 14, 15, 16, by one of the late
administration, an adversary. — Qu. 17 to 26, by Mr. Huske again. His
questions about the Germans, and about the number of people, were in
tended to make the opposition to the Stamp Act in Araerica appear
more formidable. He asked some others here that the Clerk has omit
ted, particularly one, I remember.
" There had been a considerable party in the House for saving the
honor and right of Parliament, by retaining the Act, and yet making it
tolerable to America, by reducing it to a stamp on commissions for
profitable offices, and on cards and dice. I had, in conversation with
would require an establishraent
a great expense, as the stamps
would not be sufficient to pay them, and so the odium and contention
would be kept up for nothing. The notion of amending, however, still
continued, and one of the most active of the merabers for promoting it
told me, he was sure I could, if I would, assist them to amend the Act
in such a manner, that America should have little or no objection to it.
'I must confess,' says I, 'I have thought of one amendment; if you will
make it, the Act raay remain, and yet the Americans wiU be quieted.
It is a very small amendment, too ; it is only the change of a single word.
'Ay,' says he, 'what is that.'' It is in that clause where it is said, that
from and after the first day of November one thousand seven hundred
and sixty-five, there shall be paid, &c. The amendment I would pro
pose is, for one read two, and then all the rest of the act may stand
as it does. I believe it will give nobody in America any uneasiness.
Mr. Huske had heard of this, and, desiring to bring out the same an
swer in the House, asked me whether I could not propose a small

many of them, objected to this, as it
for the distrrautors, which would be a

200 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
amendment, that would make the act palatable. But, as I bought the
answer he wanted too light and ludicrous for the House, I evaded the
question. « Qu. 27, 28, 29, 1 think these were by Mr. Grenville, but I am not
certain. — Qu. 30, 31, I know not who asked them. — Qu. 32 to 35,
asked by Mr. Nugent, who was against us. His drift was to establish a
notion he had entertained, that the people in Araerica had a crafty
mode of discouraging the Enghsh trade by heavy taxes on merchants.
— Qu. 36 to 42, raost of these by Mr. Cooper and other friends, with
whora I had discoursed, and were intended to bring out such answers
as they desired and expected frora me, — Qu. 43, uncertain by whom. —
Q«. 44, 45, 46, by Mr. Nugent again, who I suppose intended to infer,
that the poor people in Araerica were better able to pay taxes than
the poor in England. — Qu. 47, 48, 49, by Mr. Prescott, an adversary.
" Qu. 50 to 58, by different raerabers, I cannot recollect who. — Qu. 59
to 78, chiefly by the forraer rainistry. — Qm. 79 to 82, by friends. —
Qu. 83, by one of the late ministry. — Qu. 84, by Mr. Cooper. — Qu. 85
to 90, by some of the late ministry. — Qu. 91, 92, by Mr. Grenville. —
Qu. 93 to 98, by some of the late ministry. — Qu. 99, 100, by some friend,
I think Sir George Saville. — Qu. 101 to 106, by several of the late min
istry. — Qu. 107 to 114, by friends.— Qu. 115 to 117, by Mr. A. Bacon.—
Qu. 118 to 120, by some of the late ministry. — Qu. 121, by an adversary.
— Qu. 122, by a friend.— Qu. 123, 124, by Mr. Charles Townshend.—
Qu. 125, by Mr. Nugent— Qu. 126, by Mr. Grenville.- Qu. 127, by one
of the late ministry.— Qu. 128, by Mr. G. Grenville.— Qu. 129, 130,
131, by Mr. Wellbore Ellis, late Secretary of War.— Qu. 132 to 135,
uncertain. — 136 to 142, by some of the late ministry, intending to prove
that it operated where no service was done, and therefore it was a tax.
— Qu. 143, by a friend, I forget who. — Qu. 144, 145, by C. Townshend.
— Qu. 146 to 151, by sorae of the late ministry. — Qu. 152 to 157, by Mr.
Prescott, and others of the same side. — Qu. 158 to 162, by ChaiJes
Townshend. — Qu. 163, 164, by a friend, I think Sir George Saville. —
Qu. 165, by some friend. — Qu. 166, 167, by an adversary. — Qu. 1G8 to
174, by friends.
" Mr. Nugent made a violent speech next day upon this examination,
in which he said, ' We have often experienced Austrian ingratitude and
yet we assisted Portugal, we experienced Portuguese ingratitude, and
yet we assisted America. But what is Austrian ingratitude, what is
the ingratitude of Portugal, corapared to this of America? We have
fought, bled, and ruined ourselves, to conquer for them ; and now tbey
corae and toll us to our noses, even at the bar of this House, that
tliey were not obliged to us,' &c. But his clamor was very Uttle
minded."

REMARKS

A PLAN FOR THE FUTURE MANAGEMENT
OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.

The Plan remarked upon was under the consideration of the
ministry before the close of the year 1766, and, as I am inclined to
think, after the commencement of 1765. I can go no nearer as to
its date. It is needless to enter into the particulars of it, as the
Remarks explain themselves ; except perhaps as to the following
points. The trade was to be open ; there were to be two superintendents
to it ; in the northern district, the trade was to be carried on at
fixed posts ; in the southern, within the Indian towns ; the military
were to have no power over the superintendents or the Indian
trade, even in war time, unless with the superintendents' assent, or
in great exigencies ; the superintendents, by themselves or depu
ties, were to make annual visitations among the Indians, and their
proceedings were to be very summary ; and no credit was to be
given to the Indians beyond titty shillings, for no higher debt was
to be made recoverable. — B. V.

The regulations in this Plan seem to me to be in
general very good ; but sorae few appear to want ex
planation, or farther consideration.
Clause 3. Is it intended by this clause to prevent
the trade that Indians, Uving near the frontiers, raay
choose to -carry on with the inhabitants, by bringing
their skins into the settieraents? This prevention is
hardly practicable ; as such trade may be carried on
in many places out of the observation of governraent,
VOL. IV. 26

202 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
the frontier being of great extent, and the inhabitants
thinly settled in the woods, and remote from each
other. The Indians, too, do not everywhere Uve in
towns sufficiently numerous to encourage traders to
reside among thera ; but in scattered faraiUes, here and
there, often shifting their situation for the sake of better
hunting ; and if they are near the EngUsh settieraents,
it would seera to thera very hard to be obliged to carry
their skins for sale to remote towns or posts, when
they could dispose of them to their neighbours, with
less trouble and to greater advantage ; as the goods
they want for them, are and raust be dearer at such
reraote posts.
4. The colony " laws for regulating Indian affairs or
coraraerce " are the result of long experience, raade by
people on the spot, interested to make them good ; and
it would be well to consider the matter thoroughly,
before they are repealed, to make way for new and
untried scheraes.
By whora are they to be repealed ? By the colony
assemblies, or by Parliament? Some difficulty wUl
arise here.
13. The districts seem too large for this. The lu
dians under the care of the northern superintendent,
by this plan, border on the colonies of Nova Scotia,
Quebec, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vir-
gi.iia ; the superintendent's situation, remote frora raany
of these, raay occasion great inconvenience, if his con
sent is always to be necessary in such cases.
14. This seems too much to be done, when the
vastness of the district is considered. If there were
more districts and smaller, it might be more practicable.
16 and 16. Are these agents or coraraissaries to
try causes where Ufe is concerned ? Would it not be
better to send the crirainals into sorae civU, wefl-settled

REMARKS ON A PLAN. 203
govemment or colony, for trial, where good juries can
be had?
18. " Chief for the whole tribe ; who shafl con
stantly reside with the commissary," &c. Provision
must then be made for his maintenance, as particular
Indians have no estates, but live by hunting ; and their
public has no funds or revenues. Being used to rara-
bUng, it would perhaps not be easy to find one, who
would be obUged to this constant residence; but it
may be tried.
22. If the agent and his deputies, and the corarais
saries, are not to trade, should it not be a part of their
oath, that they wiU have no concem in such trade, di
rectly or indirectly ? Private agreeraents between thera
and the traders, for share of profits, should be guarded
against ; and the sarae care taken to prevent, if possi
ble, private agreeraents between thera and the pur
chasers of Indian lands.
31.  "or trading at any other post," &,c. This
should be so expressed, as to raake' the raaster Uable
for the offence of the servant ; otherwise it wiU have
no effect.
( 33. I doubt the settUng of tariffs wiU be a raatter
of difficulty. There may be differences of fineness,
goodness, and value, in the goods of different traders,
that cannot be properly aUowed for by general ta
riffs. And it seems contrary to the nature of com
merce, for govemment to interfere in the prices of
coraraodities. Trade is a voluntary thing between
buyer and seUer; in every article of which each ex
ercises his own judgraent, and is to please himself.
Suppose either Indian or trader is dissatisfied with the
tariff, and refuses barter on those terms; are the re
fusers to be compeUed ? If not, why should an Indian
be forbidden to take more goods for his skins than your
tariff allows, if the trader is wiUing to give them ; or a

204 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
trader raore skins for his goods, if the Indian is wiUing
to give thera? Where there are a nuraber of traders,
the separate desire of each to get raore custora wiU oper
ate in bringing down their goods to a reasonable price.
It therefore seems to rae, that trade wiU best find and
make its own rates ; and that government cannot weU
interfere, unless it wUl take the whole trade into its own
hands (as in some colonies it does), and raanage it by
its ovvn servants, at its own risk.
38. I apprehend, that if the Indians cannot get rum
of fair traders, it wiU be a great m.eans of defeating afl
these regulations that direct the trade to be carried on
at certain posts. The countries and forests are so very
large, it is scarce possible to guard every part, so as to
prevent unUcensed traders drawing the Indians and the
trade to themselves, by rum and other spirituous Uquors,
which all savage people are so fond of. I think they
will generaUy trade where they can get rum, preferably
to where it is refused them ; and the proposed prohi
bition wiU therefore be a great encouragement to un
Ucensed traders, and promote such trade. If the com
missaries, or officers at the posts, can prevent the seUing
of rum during the barter for other goods, and until the
Indians are about going away, it is perhaps afl that is
practicable or necessary. The missionaries wiU, among
other things, endeavour to prevaU with them to Uve
soberly and avoid drunkenness.
3&. The Indian trade, so far as credit is concerned,
has hitherto been carried on wholly upon honor. They
have among themselves no such thing as prisons or
confinement for debt. This article seems to iraply,
that an Indian may be corapefled by law to pay a debt
of fifty shiUings or under. Our legal method of com
pulsion is by iraprisonraent. The Indians cannot and
wifl not imprison one another ; and, if we attempt to
imprison them, I apprehend it would be gei>ei"i"v dis-

REMARKS ON A PLAN. 205
liked by the nations, and occasion breaches. They
have such high ideas of the value of personal Uberty,
and such sUght ones of the value of personal property,
that they would think the disproportion monstrous be
tween the liberty of a raan and a debt of a few shfl
Ungs ; and that it would be excessively inequitable and
unjust, to take away the one for a default in payment
of the other. It seems to me, therefore, best to leave
that raatter on its present footing; the debts under
fifty shillings as irrecoverable by law, as this article
proposes for the debts above fifty shiUings. Debts
of honor are generally as well paid as other debts.
Where no compulsion can be used, it is more disgrace
ful to be dishonest. If the trader thinks his risk great
er in trusting any particular Indian, he wiU either not
do it, or proportion his price to his risk.
44. As the goods for the Indian trade aU come from
England, and the peltry is chiefly brought to England,
perhaps it wifl be best to lay the duty here, on the
exportation of the one, and the importation of the other ;
to avoid meddling with the question of the right to lay
duties in America by ParUament here.
V If it be thought proper to carry the trading part of
this plan into execution, would it not be wefl to try it
first in a few posts, to which the present colony laws
for regulating the Indian trade do not reach ; that by
experience its utiUty may be ascertained, or its defects
discovered and araended, before it is raade general, and
those laws repealed to make way for it ? If the Indians
find by experience, that they are better used in their
trade at the posts under these regulations, than at other
places, may it not make thera desirous of having the
regulations extended to other places ; and, when ex
tended, better satisfied with them upon reflection and
coraparison ?
VOL. IV. R

HINTS
FOR A REPLY TO THE PROTESTS
OF
CERTAIN MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OP LORDS
AGAINST
THE REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT.

In the Athen^um at Philadelphia are many volumes of Pam
phlets, which formerly belonged to Dr. Franklin. Some of these
are curious from the manuscript notes they contain in the margin.
A few specimens have been selected for publication, both as hav
ing an historical interest, and as being peculiarly characteristic of
their author. These were first published by the present editor in a
little volume, entitled, " Familiar Letters and Miscellaneous Pieces
by Dr. Franklin."
It should here also be observed, that the notes contained in
these pamphlets were penned at the very time when he was sup^
posed, by some persons, either unfriendly to his character or ignoJ'
rant of his motives, to be secretly acting a part in England more
accordant to his private aims, than to the high duties of a true
lover of his country. From the tone, temper, and substance of
these notes,, let the reader judge with what justice such suspicions
have been entertained, and such insinuations hazarded to the pub
lic. As mere private records of his thoughts, prompted by the
impulse of the moment, without any design of their ever seeing
the light, they must be admitted to reveal his true sentiments, and
to exhibit the unbiassed workings of his mind.
The following " Hints " are found in the margin of Dr. Frank
lin's printed copy of the Protests, written at the time (1766), from
which it would appear, that it was his intention to make a formal
answer to these Protests. This purpose, it is believed, was never
executed. — Editor.

HINTS. 207

FIRST PROTEST.

We have submitted to your laws ; no proof of our
acknowledgment of your power to raake thera ; rather
an acknowledgraent of their reasonableness, or of our
own weakness. Post-office carae as a raatter of utfl-
ity; was aided by the legislature. Mean to take
advantage of our ignorance. ChUdren should not be
iraposed on ; are not, even by honest shopkeepers.
A great and magnanimous nation should disdain to
govem by tricks and traps, that would disgrace a
pettifoggmg attomey.
Settlement of the colonies stated. ParUament not
consulted ; not tUl after the Restoration, except by rebel
ParUament. Anxious about preserving the sovereignty
of this country ? Rather be so about preserving the
liberty. We shafl be so about the hberty of America,
that your posterity may have a free country to come
to, where they wifl be received with open arras.
King, the sovereign, cannot take in his Parharaent ;
at least, can give no greater power, than he had hiraself.
iCompliraent the Lords. Not a wiser or better body
of\men on earth. The deep respect impressed on me
by the instance I have been witness to of their justice.
They have been misled by misinformation. Proof of
my opinion of their goodness, in the freedom with
which I propose to examine their Protests.
The trust of taxing America was never reposed by
the people of America in the legislature of Great Britain.
They had one kind of confidence, indeed, in that legis
lature ; that it would never atterapt to tax thera with
out their consent. The law was destructive of that
confidence araong them.
Other advantages of colonies besides commerce.
Selfishness of coraraercial views.

208 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
The sovereignty of the crown I understand. The
sovereignty of the British legislature out of Britain I
do not understand.
The fear of being thought weak is a timidity and
weakness of the worst sort, as it betrays into a per
sisting in errors, that raay be rauch more mischievous
than the appearance of weakness. A great and pow
erful state, like this, has no cause for such tiraidity.
Acknowledging and correcting an error shows great
raagnaniraity. Sraafl states and smafl republics cannot
afford to do so.
America not in the realm of England or Great Brit
ain ? No man in America thinks himself exempt from
the jurisdiction of the crown, and of the assembUes, or
has any such private judgment.
The agitation of the question of rights makes it how
necessary to settle a constitution for the colonies.
Restrictions should be only for the general good. En
deavour to convince reasonable creatures by reason.
Try your hands with me.
Never think of it. They are reasonable creatures.
Reasonable laws wifl not require force. ^
I observe two or three Scotch Lords protest. Maiiy
more voted against the repeal. Colonies settled before
the union. Query ; If the Pariiament had a jurisdic
tion over the colonies by the first settieraent, had they
a right to introduce new legislators ? Could they sefl
or commute the right with other nations? Can they
introduce the Peers of Ireland and Commons, and the
States of HoUand, and make them legislators of the
colonies ? How could Scotiand acquire a right to legis
lation over EngUsh colonies, but by consent of the
colonies theraselves?
I am a subject of the crown of Great Britain ; have
ever been a loyal one ; have partaken of its favors. I

HINTS. 209
write here with freedora, relying on the raagnaniraity
of the Parliaraent. I say nothing to your Lordships, that
I have not been indulged to say to the Coraraons.
Your Lordships' names are to your Protest, therefore
I think I ought to put mine to the answer. Desire
what I have said raay not be iraputed to the colonies.
I ara a private person, and do not write by their di
rection. I ara over here to solicit, in behalf of ray col
ony, a closer coramunication with the crown.

SECOND PROTEST.
Talk with BoUan on this head. Query ; Courts of
common law ? Particular colonies drained ; aU drained,
as it would aU come home. Those, that would pay
most of the tax, would have least of it spent at home.
It raust go to the conquered colonies. The view of
maps deceives.
AU breach of the constitution. Juries better to be
tmsted. Have rather an interest in suppressing smug
glers. Nature of smuggUng. It is picking of pockets.
Aui oppressions take their rise frora some plea of utUity ;
often in appearance only.
The clamor of raultitudes. It is good to attend to
it. It is wiser to foresee and avoid it. It is wise,
when neither foreseen nor avoided, to correct the raeas
ures that give occasion to it. Glad the raajority have
that wisdora.
Wish your Lordships had attended to that other
great article of the paUadiura ; " Taxes shaU not be
laid but by common consent in Pariiaraent." We Amer
icans were not here to give our consent.
My duty to the King, and justice to ray country,
wUl, I hope, justify me, if I likewise protest, which I
VOL. IV. 27 R*

210 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
now do with aU humility in behalf of myself and of
every American, and of our posterity, against your
declaratory bill, that the Parliament of Great Britain
has not, never had, and of right never can have, with
out consent, given either before or after, power to
make laws of sufficient force to bind the subjects in
America in any case whatever, and particularly in tax
ation. I can only judge of others by myself. I have some
httle property in Araerica. I wiU freely spend nine
teen shiUings in the pound to defend ray right of giv
mg or refusing the other shilUng; and, after aU, if I
cannot defend that right, I can retire cheerfully with
my httle family into the boundless woods of America,
which are sure to afford freedora and subsistence to
any man, who can bait a hook or puU a trigger.

OBSERVATIONS
ON PASSAGES IN
«A LETTER FROM
A MERCHANT IN LONDON
TO HIS NEPHEW IN NORTH AMERICA
lONDON, 1766." •
Extract. "The honest indignation you express
agEunst those artifices and frauds, those robberies and
insults, which lost us the hearts and affections of the
Indians, is particularly to be commended ; for these
were the thmgs, as you justly observed, which involved
us m the most bloody and expensive war that ever
was known."
Observation. This is wickedly intended by the
aijithor, Dean Tucker, to represent the North Ameri
cas as the cause of the war. Whereas it was in fact
begun by the French, who seized the goods and per
sons of the EngUsh traders on the Ohio, who en
croached on the King's land in Nova Scotia, and took
a fort fi-om the Ohio Company by force of arms, which
mduced England to make reprisals at sea, and to send
Braddock to recover the fort on the Ohio, whence came
on the war.
" By the spirit of Magna Charta aU taxes laid on by
Parliament are constitutional, legal taxes."
* Marginal notes in Franklin's Pamphlets in the Philadelphia Athe-
nsEum. See above, pp. 206, 211. —Editor.

212 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
"But then it is to be further observed, that this same
method of arguing is equally favorable to governors as
governed, and to the raother country as the colonies."
Here is the old mistake of aU these writers. The
people of the mother country are subjects, not gover
nors. The King only is sovereign in both countries.
"The colonies wiU no longer think it equitable to
insist upon immunities, which the people of Great Brit
ain do not enjoy."
Why not, if they have a right to thera ?
" To claira a right of being taxed by theh asserabUes
only, appears to have too much the air of independ
ence; and, though they are not represented here,
would give thera an immunity beyond the inhabitants
of this island."
It is a right, however; what signifies what air it has?
The inhabitants being freeholders ought to have the
same. If they have it not, they are injured. Then
rectify what is amiss among yourselves ; and do not
raake it a justification of raore wrong.
" Or could they hope to procure any advantages
from one hundred representatives ? Common sense
answers aU this in the negative." I
Why not, as weU as Scotiand from forty-five, or
rather sixty-one? Common sense, on the contrary,
says, that a body of one hundred votes in ParUament
wiU always be worth the attention of any ministry;
and the fear of offending them wiU make every minis
ter cautious of injuring the rights of their country, lest
they join with his opposers in ParUament.
" Therefore the interest of Great Britain and that of
the colonies is the same."
AU this argument of the interest of Britain and the
colonies being the same is faUacious and unsatisfactory.
Partners in trade have a common interest, which is t;he

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 213
same, the flourishmg of the partnership business ; but
they may, raoreover, have each a separate interest, and,
in pursuit of that separate interest, one of them may
endeavour to irapose on the other, may cheat him in
the accounts, may draw to hiraself raore than his share
of the profits, raay put upon the other raore than an
equal share of the expense and burden. Their having
a comraon interest is no security against such injustice.
The landholders of Great Britain have a comraon in
terest, and yet they injure one another in the inequal
ity of the land tax. The raajority in Parliaraent, being
favored in the proportions, wUl never consent to do jus
tice to the rainority by a raore equal assessraent.
"But what reasonable ground of apprehension can
there be, that the British Parharaent should be igno
rant of so plain a raatter, as that the interests of Brit
ain and the colonies are the sarae?"
If the Pariiaraent is so knowing and so just, how
comes it to restrain Ireland in its manufactures, Araer
ica in its trade? Why may not an Irishman or an
American raake the sarae raanufactures, and carry thera
to the same ports, as an Enghshman? In many in
stances Britain shows a selfish regard to her own in
terest, in prejudice to the colonies. Araerica, therefore,
has no confidence in her equity.
" But I can conceive no earthly security better, none
indeed so good, as that which depends upon the wis
dora and integrity of a British King and ParUament."
Suppose seats in your House of Comraons heredi
tary, as those of the House of Lords ; or suppose the
Coraraons to be norainated by the King, or chosen by
the Lords ; could you then rely upon them ? If your
raerabers were to be chosen by the people of Ireland,
could you then rely upon thera ? Could you depend
upon their wisdom and integrity as a security, the best

214 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
possible, for your rights? And wherein is our case
different, if the people of England choose legislators
for the people of America?
"*If they have a spark of virtue left, they wiU blush
to be found in a posture of hostiUty against Great
Britain." There was no posture of hosliUty in America, but
Britain put herself in a posture of hostUity against
Araerica. Witness the landmg of the troops in Bos
ton, 1768.

OBSERVATIONS ON
PASSAGES IN A PAMPHLET,
entitled
"GOOD HUMOR,
OR
A WAY WITH THE COLONIES.
LONDON, 1766."*
Extract. " The reply of the governor of Massachu
setts to the asserably's answer is in the sarae consistent
style ; and affords stiU a stronger proof, as weU of his
own ingenuity, honor, and integrity, as of the furious
and enthusiastic sph-it of the province."
Observation. They knew the govemor to be, as it
afterwards turned out, their eneray and calumniator in
I private letters to government here.
I "It had been raore becoraing the state of the colo-
hies, always dear to Britain, and ever cherished and
defended by it, to have remonstrated in »terms of filial
duty and obedience."
How ignorant is this writer of facts! How raany
of their remonstrances were rejected !
"They must give us leave, in our tum, to except
against their demonstration of legal exemption."
There never was any occasion of legal exemption
from what they never had been subject to.
* The passages included witliin quotation marks are extracts from the
pamphlet, and tiie sentence following each contains Dr. Franklin's ob
servations, which were copied from Franklin's Pamphlets, in the Phila
delphia Athenaeum. See above, p. 206. — Editor.

216 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
There is no doubt but taxes laid by ParUament,
where the ParUament has jurisdiction, are legal taxes;
but does it follow, that taxes laid by the ParUament of
England on Scotiand before the union, on Guernsey,
Jersey, Ireland, Hanover, or any other dominions of the
crown not within the realm, are therefore legal? These
writers against the colonies aU bewUder theraselves by
supposing the colonies within the realm, which is not
the case, nor ever was. This then is the spirit of the
constitution, that taxes shaU not be laid without the
consent of those to be taxed. The colonies were not
then in being, and therefore nothing relating to them
could be literally expressed. As the Araericans are
now without the realra, and not of the jurisdiction of
ParUament, the spirit of the British constitution dic
tates, that they should be taxed only by iheir own rep
resentatives, as the English are by thehs.
"Now the first emigrants, who settled m Araerica,
were certainly EngUsh subjects, subject to the laws and
jurisdiction of Parharaent, and consequently to parUa-
mentary taxes, before the emigration, and therefore
subject afterwards, unless sorae legal constitutional ex
eraption can be produced." i
This position supposes, that EngUshraen can never
be out of the jurisdiction of Pariiaraent. It raay as
weU be said, that wherever an Enghshraan resides, that
country is England. While an Enghshman resides m
England, he is undoubtedly subject to its laws. If he
goes into a foreign country, he is subject to the laws
and governraent he finds there. If he finds no gov
ernraent or laws there, he is subject there to none, tUl
he and his corapanions, if he has any, raake laws for
themselves ; and this was the case of the first settiers
in America. Otherwise, and if they carried the Eng
hsh laws and power of Parliament with them, what

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 217
advantage could the Puritans propose to theraselves by
going, since they would have been as subject to bish
ops, spiritual courts, tithes, and statutes relating to the
church, in America as in England? Can the Dean,
on his principles, tefl how it happens, that those laws,
the game acts, the statutes for laborers, and an infinity
of others, raade before and since the emigration, are
not in force in America, nor ever were ?
"Now, upon the first settUng of an EngUsh colony,
and before ever you Americans could have chosen any
representatives, and therefore before any assembly of
such representatives could have possibly met, to whose
laws and to what legislative power were you then
subject ? To the EngUsh, most undoubtedly ; for you
could have been subject to no other."
The author here appears quite ignorant of the fact.
The colonies carried no law with thera; they carried
only a power of raaking laws, or adoptmg such parts of
the EngUsh law, or of any other law, as they should
think suitable to their circurastances. The first settlers
of Connecticut, for instance, at their first raeeting in
that country, finding theraselves out of afl jurisdiction
c|f other governraents, resolved and enacted, that, tifl a
code of laws should be prepared and agreed to, they
would be governed by the law of Moses, as contained
m the Old Testament.
If the first settiers had no right to expect a better
constitution, than the EngUsh, what fools were they for
going over, to encounter afl the hardships and perUs of
new settieraents in a wUdemess ! For these were so
many additions to what they suffered at horae, from
tyrannical and oppressive institutions in church and
state ; with a subtraction of all their old enjoyments of
the conveniences and comforts of an old-settled coun
try, friends, neighbours, relations, and homes.
VOL. IV. 28 s

218 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS
" Suppose, therefore, that the crown had been so iH
advised as to have granted a charter to any city or
county here in England, pretending to exerapt them
from the power and jurisdiction of an English Parlia
ment. Is it possible for you to beUeve an absurdity so
gross and glaring ? "
The American settiers needed no exemption from
the power of Parliament; they were necessarily ex
empted, as soon as they landed out of its jurisdiction.
Therefore, all this rhetorical paragraph is founded on a
mistake of the author, and the absurdity he talks of is
of his own making.
" Good heavens ! What a sudden alteration is this !
An Araerican pleading for the extension of the preroga
tive of the crown ! Yes, if it could make for his cause ;
and for extending it, too, beyond afl the bounds of law,
of reason, and of common sense ! "
What stuff! Why raay not an American plead for
the just prerogatives of the crown? And is it not a
just prerogative of the crown to give the subjects leave
to settie in a foreign country, fl" they think it necessary
to ask such leave? Was the Pariiaraent at afl con
sidered, or consulted, in raaking those first settiementa?
Or did any lawyer then think it necessary ?
"Now this clause, which is nothing raore than the
renunciation of absolute prerogative, is quoted in our
newspapers, as if it was a renunciation of the rights of
Pariiaraent to raise taxes."
It was not a renunciation of the rights of Pariiaraent.
There was no need of such a renunciation, for Pariia
ment had not even pretended to such a right. But,
since the royal faith was pledged by the King for him
self and his successors, how can any succeeding King,
without violating that faith, ever give his assent to an
act of Pariiament for such taxation ?

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 219
" Nay, many of your colony charters assert quite the
contrary, by containing the express reservations of par-
Uamentaiy rights, particularly that great one of levymg
taxes." A fib, Mr. Dean. In one charter only, and that a
late one, is the Parharaent mentioned; and the right
reserved is only that of laying duties on commodities
imported into England frora the colony, or exported
to it.
" And those charters, which do not raake such pro
visions in express terras, raust be supposed virtually to
iraply thera ; because the law and constitution wiU not
allow, that the King can do raore, either at horae or
abroad, by the prerogative royal, than the law and con
stitution authorize hira to do."
Suppositions and implications wifl not weigh m these
important cases. No law or constitution forbade the
Kmg's doing what he did in granting those charters.
" Confuted, most undoubtedly, you are beyond the
possibiUty of a reply, as far as the law and constitution
of the realm ai-e concerned in this question."
;' This is haflooing before you ai-e out of the wood.
" Sti-ange, that though the British Pai-Uament has
been, from the begmnmg, thus unreasonable, thus un
just and cruel towai'ds you, by levying taxes on many
coraraodities outwai-ds and inwai-ds" —
False ! Never before the Restoration. The Parlia
ment, it is acknowledged, have made raany oppressive
laws relating to America, which have passed without
opposition, partiy through the weakness of the colo
nies, partiy through theh inattention to the fufl extent
of their rights, whfle eraployed in labor to procure the
necessaries of life. But that is a wicked guardian, and
a shameless one, who first takes advantage of the
weakness mcident to minority, cheats and imposes on

220 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
his pupil, and, when the pupU comes of age, urges
those very impositions as precedents to justify contin
uing them and adding others.
" But surely you wiU not dare to say, that we refuse
your votes when you come hither to offer them, and
choose to poll. You cannot have the face to assert,
on an election-day any difference is put between the
vote of a man born in America, and of one bom here
in England."
This is afl banter and insult, when you know the
impossibility of a milUon of freeholders coming over sea
to vote here. If their freeholds in Araerica are within
the realm, why have they not, in virtue of these free
holds, a right to vote in your elections, as weU as an
English freeholder? Sometimes we are told, that our
estates are by our charters aU in the manor of East
Greenwich, and therefore aU in England ; and yet have
we any right to vote araong the voters of East Green
wich ? Can we trade to the sarae ports ? In this very
paragraph, you suppose that we cannot vote in Eng
land, if we corae hither, tiU we have by purchase ac
quired a right; therefore neither we nor our estatesi
are represented in England. )
" The cause of your complaint is this ; that you Uve
at too great a distance from the mother country to be
present at our EngUsh elections ; and that, in conse
quence of this distance, the freedom of our towns, or
the freeholds in our counties, as far as voting is con
cerned, are not worth attending to. It may be so;
but pray consider, if you yourselves choose to make
it inconvenient for you to come ahd vote, by rething
into distant countries, what is that to us ? "
This is all beside the raark. The Araericans are by
their constitutions provided with a representation, and
therefore neither need nor desire any in the British

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 221
Parliament. They have never asked any such thing.
They only say, Smce we have a right to grant our
own money to the King, since we have assembUes
where we are represented for such purposes, why wifl
you raeddle, out of your sphere, take the raoney that
is ours, and give us yours, without our consent?
" Yes, it is, and you deraand it too with a loud voice,
full of anger, of defiance, and denunciation."
An absolute falsehood ! We never demanded in any
raanner, much less in the manner you raention, that the
mother country should change her constitution.
"In the great metropoUs, and in raany other cities,
landed property itself hath no representative in Pariia
raent. Copy-holds and lease-holds of various kinds
have none Ukewise, though of ever so great a value."
Copy-holds and lease-holds are supposed to be rep
resented in the original landlord of whom they are held.
Thus afl the land in England is in fact represented,
notwithstanding what he here says. As to those who
have no landed property in a county, the aflowing thera
to vote for legislators is an irapropriety. They are
transient inhabitants, and not so connected with the
welfare of the state, which they may quit when they
please, as to quaUfy them properly for such privUege.
"And, besides aU this, it is weU known that the East
India Corapany, which have such vast settleraents, and
which dispose of the fate of kings and kingdoras abroad,
have not so rauch as a single raeraber, or even a single
vote, quatenus a corapany, to watch over their interests
at horae. And raay not their property, perhaps a Uttie
short of one hundreli raUUons sterling, as rauch deserve
to be represented in Pariiaraent, as the scattered town
ships or stragghng houses of sorae of your provinces in
Araerica ? "
By this arguraent it raay be proved, that no man in
s*

222 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
England has a vote. The clergy have none as clergy
men ; the lawyers, none as lawyers ; the physicians,
none as physicians ; and so on. But if they have votes
as freeholders, that is sufficient ; and that, no freeholder
in America has for a representative in the British Par
Uament. The stockholders are many of them foreign
ers, and aU may be so when they please, as nothing is
raore easy than the transferring of stock and conveying
property beyond sea by biUs of exchange. Such un
certain subjects are, therefore, not properly vested with
rights relating to governraent.
" Yet we raise no commotions ; we neither ring the
alarm-bell, nor sound the trumpet, and submit to be
taxed without being represented; and taxed, let me
tell you, for your sakes. AU was granted when you
cried for help."
This is wickedly false. WhUe the colonies were
weak and poor, not a penny or a single soldier was
ever spared by Britain for their defence. But as soon
as the trade with thera became an object, and a feai
arose, that the French would seize that trade and de
prive her of it, she sent troops to America unasked.
And she now brings this account of the expense)
against us, which should be rather carried to her own
merchants and raanufacturers. We joined our troops
and treasure with hers to help her in this war. Of
this no notice is taken. To refuse to pay a just debt
is knavish ; not to return an obligation is ingratitude ;
but to deraand payraent of a debt where none has been
contracted, to forge a bond or an obligation in order to
demand what was never due, is Many. Every year
both King and ParUament, during the war, acknowl
edged, that we had done more than our part, and made
us some return, which is equivalent to a receipt in full,
and entirely sets aside this monstrous claim.

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 223
By all means redress your own grievances. If you
are not just to your own people, how can we tmst
you ? We ask no representation araong you ; but, if
you have any thing wrong araong yourselves, rectify it,
and do not make one injustice a precedent and plea
for doing another. That would be increasing evU in
the world ii^tead of diminishing it.
You need not be concerned about the number to
be added from Araerica. We do not desire to come
araong you; but you may make sorae roora for your
own additional members, by removing those that are
sent by the rotten boroughs.
" I raust now teU you, that every member of ParUa
ment represents you, and rae, and our interests in afl
essential points, just as rauch as if we had voted for hira.
For, although one place or one set of raen raay elect
and send him up to ParUament, yet, when once he
becomes a member, he is the equal guardian of afl."
In the sarae raanner, Mr. Dean, are the Pope and
Cardinals representatives of the whole Christian church.
Why don't you obey thera?
, " This, then, being the case, it therefore foflows, that
o(ur Birrainghams, Manchesters, Leedses, HaUfaxes, &c.,
and your Bostons, New Yorks, and Philadelphias, are
as really, though not so nominaUy, represented, as any
part whatsoever of the British erapire ; and that each
of these places has in fact, instead of one or two, not
less than five hundred and fifty-eight guardians m the
British Senate."
What occasion is there then, my dear Sir, of being at
the trouble of elections ? The Peers alone would do
as weU for our guardians, though chosen by the King,
or bom such. If their present number is too small, his
Majesty may be good enough to add five hundred and
fifty-eight, or make the present House of Commons and

224 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
their heirs-male Peers for ever. If having a vote in
elections would be of no use to us, how is it of any to
you ? Elections are the cause of much tumult, riot,
contention, and mischief. Get rid of them at once,
and for ever.
"It proves that no man ought to pay any tax, but
that only to which the member of his own town, city,
or county hath particularly assented."
You seem to take your nephew for a simpleton,
Mr. Dean. Every one, who votes for a representative,
knows and intends, that the raajority is to govem, and
that the consent of the majority is to be understood as
the consent of the whole ; that being ever the case in
all deliberative assemblies.
"The doctrine of implication is the very thing to
which you object, and against which you have raised
so raany batteries of popular noise and clamor."
How far, my dear Sir, would you yourself carry the
doctrine of impUcation ? If important positions are to
be impUed, when not expressed, I suppose you can.
have no objection to their being iraplied where some
expression countenances the impUcation. If you should
say to a friend, "I am your humble servant, Sh,''
ought he to iraply from thence, that you wfll clean his
shoes ? *
" And consequently you raust mamtain, that afl those
in your several provinces, who have no votes," &.c.
No freeholder in North Araerica is without a vote.
Many, who have no freeholds, have nevertheless a vote ;
which, indeed, I don't think was necessary io be allowed.
" You have your choice, whether you wifl accept of
my price for your tobacco ; or, after bringing it here,
whether you wUl carry it away, and try your fortune at
another market."
A great kindness this, to obUge me first to bring it

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 225
here, that the expense of another voyage and freight
may deter me fi-om carrying it away, and obUge me to
take the price you are pleased to offer.
" But I have no alternative aUowed, being obUged to
buy yours at your own price, or else to pay such a
duty for the tobacco of other countries, as must amount
to a prohibition. Nay, in order to favor your planta
tions, I am not permitted to plant this herb on my own
estate, though the sofl should be ever so proper for it."
You lay a duty on the tobacco of other countries,
because you must pay money for that, but get ours in
exchange for your manufactures. ~ ~v-
Tobacco is not permitted to be planted in England,
lest it sliould mterfere with cora necessary for your
subsistence. Rice you cannot raise. It requires elev
en raonths. Your suramer is too short. Nature, not
the laws, denies you this product.
" And what wUl you say in relation to hemp ? The
Parharaent now gives you a bounty of eight pounds
per ton for exporting your herap frora North America,
but wUl aflow me nothing for growing it here in
England."
¦ Did ever any North-American bring his hemp to
England for this bounty ? We have yet not enough
for our own consumption. We begin to make our own
cordage. You want to suppress that manufacture, and
would do it by getting the raw material from us. You
want to be suppUed with hemp for your raanufactures,
and Russia demands money. These were the motives
for giving what you are pleased to cafl a bounty to us.
We thank you for your bounties. We love you, and
therefore raust be obUged to you for being good to
yourselves. You do not encourage raising hemp in
England, because you know it impoverishes the richest
grounds; your landholders are afl against it. What
VOL. IV. 29

226 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
you cafl bounties given by Parliaraent and the Society,
are nothing more than inducements offered us, to per
suade us to leave employments that are more profitable,
and engage in such as would be less so without your
bounty ; to quit a business profitable ^o ourselves, and
engage in one that shafl be profitable to you. This
is the true spirit of afl your bounties.
Your duties on foreign articles are from the same
motives. Pitch, tar, arid turpentine used to cost you
five pounds a barrel, when you had them from foreign
ers, who used, you ifl into the bargain, thinking you
could rot dt> without them. You gave a bounty of
five shiUings a barrel to the colonies, and they have
brought you such plenty as to reduce the price to ten
shiUings a barrel. Take back your bounties, when you
please, since you upbraid us with them. Buy your
indigo, pitch, sUk, and tobacco where you please, and
let us buy our manufactures where we please. I fancy
we shall be gainers, t As to the great kindness of these
five hundred and fifty-eight parhamentary guardians of
American privUeges, who can forbear smUing, that has
seen the Navigation Act, the Hatters' Act, the Steel-
Hammer and SUt-Iron Act, and numberless others, re
straining our trade, obstructing our raanufactures, and
forbidding us the use of the gifts of God and nature.
Hopeful guardians, truly ! Can it be iraagined, that, if
we had a reasonable share in electing thera from time
to time, they would thus have used us ?
"And must have seen abundant reason before this
time, to have altered your former hasty and rash
opinion." We see in you abundance of self-conceit, but no
convincing arguraent.
" Have you no concerts or assembUes, no play-houses
or gaming-houses, now subsisting? Have you put

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 227
down your horse-races and other such Uke sports and
diversions ? And is the luxury of your tables, and the
variety and profusion of your wines and Uquors, quite
banished from among you?"
This should be a caution to Americans, how they
indulge for the future in British luxuries. See hefe
British generosity ! The people, who have made you
poor by their worthless, I mean useless, coraraodities,
would now raake you poorer by taxmg you ; and from
the very inabiUty you have brought on yourselves, by a
partiality for their fashions and modes of living, of which
they have had the whole profit, would now urge your
abUity to pay the taxes they are pleased to impo^_
Reject, then, theirjcoiTifiieice, as well as^&drpretended
power of, taxing. Be frugal and industrious, and you
wifl be free. The luxury of your tables, which could
be known to the EngUsh only by your hospitably enter-
tainfeg them, is by these grateful guests now raade a
charge against you, and given as a reason for taxing
you. " Be it also aflowed, as it is coraraonly asserted, that
the pubhc debt of the several provinces amounts to
eight hundred thousand pounds sterling."
I have heard, Mr. Dean, that you have studied po
Utical arithmetic raore than divinity, but, from this sam
ple of it, I fear to very little purpose. If personal
service were the matter in question, out of so many
miUions of souls, so raany raen raight be expected,
whether here or in Araerica. But, when raising money
is the question, it is not the number of souls, but the
wealth in possession, that shows the abiUty. If we
were twice as numerous as the people of England, it
would not follow that we are half as able. There are
numbers of single estates in Enghnd, each worth a
hundred of the best of ours in North America. The

228 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
city of London alone is worth all the provinces of
North America.
" When each of us pays, one with another, twenty
shillings per head, we expect that each of you should
pay the sum of one shiUing ! Blush, blush, for shame
at your perverse and scandalous behaviour!"
Blush for shame at your own ignorance, Mr. Dean,
who do not know that the colonies have taxes, and
heavy ones of their own to pay, to support their own
civU and railitary establishraents ; and that the shUUngs
should not be reckoned upon heads, but upon pounds.
There never was a siUier arguraent.
"""'•iLWitness our county taxes, raUitia taxes, poor taxes,
vagrant taxes, bridge taxes,' higli road and tumpike
taxes, watch taxes, larap and scavengei''*Bftxes, &c.
&c. &c." "^^.
And have we not aU these taxes too, as weU as you,
and our provincial or public taxes besides ? And, over
and above, have we not new roads to make, new
bridges to buUd, churches and coUeges to found, and a
number of other things to do, that your fathers have
done for you, and which you mherit from thera, but
which we are obliged to pay for out of our present
labor? " We require of you to contribute only one shiUmg
to every twenty frora each of us. Yes, and this shUImg
too to be spent in your own country, for the support
of your own civU and mUhary estabUshments."
How fond he is of this one shUUng and twenty.
Who has deshed this of you, and who can tmst you
to lay it out ? If you are thus to provide for our civfl
and miUtary establishments, what use wifl there after
wards be for our assemblies?
" And yet, smafl and inconsiderable, as this share is,
you wifl not pay it. No, you wfll not! and it is at
our peril if we demand it."

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 229
No ! we wifl pay nothing on compulsion.
" For how, and in what raanner, do you prove your
aUegations ? Why, truly, by breaking forth mto riots
and msurrections, and by committing every kind of
violence that can cause trade to stagnate, and industry
to cease."
The Americans never brought riots as arguments.
It is unjust to charge two or three riots in particular
places upon afl America. Look for arguments in the
petitions and remonstrances of the assemblies, who de
test riots, of which there are ten in England for one in
Araerica. "Perhaps you raeant to insinuate (though^ wag-
prudence in yoj;^jtot*T6~speak out), Ihat ^tKe late 'act
was Ul-contriVed and iU-timed, because it was raade at a
juncture when neither the French were in your rear to
frighten, nor the EngUsh fleets and arraies on your front
to force you to a compUance."
It seeras a prevaiUng opmion in England, that feai
of their French neighbours would have kept the colo
nies in obedience to the ParUament, and that, if the
French power had not been subdued, no opposition
would have been made to the Stamp Act. A very
groundless notion. On the contrary, had the French
power continued, to which the Americans raight have
had recourse in the case of oppression from Parhament,
Parliaraent would not have dared to oppress thera. It
was the eraployraent of fifty thousand men by land,
and a fleet on the coast, for five years, to subdue the
French only. Half the land army were provincial.
Suppose the British twenty-five thousand had acted
by themselves, with afl the colonies against thera ; what
time would it have taken to subdue the whole?
" Or shafl we give you entirely up, unless you wifl
VOL. IV. T

230 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
submit to be govemed by the same laws as we are,
and pay something towards raaintaining yourselves?"
The irapudence of this language to colonies, who
have ever maintained themselves, is astonishing ! Ex
cept the late aiiempied colonies of Nova Scotia and
Georgia, no colony ever received maintenance in any
shape from Britain ; and the grants to those colonies
were mere jobs for the benefit of ministerial favorites,
English or Scotchmen.
" Whether we are to give you entirely up, and, after
having obliged you to pay your debts, whether we are
to have no further connexion with you as a dependent
^aJeOT. colony " —
Throughout all America English debts are more
easily recovered than in England, t»he process -' being
shorter and less expensive, and land subject to execu
tion for the payraent of debts. Evidence, taken ex
parte in England, to prove a debt, is aUowed in their
courts, and during the whole dispute there was not
one single instance of any EngUsh raerchant's raeeting
with the least obstruction in any process or suit com
menced there for that purpose.
" Externally, by being severed from the British era
pire, you wiU be excluded from cutting logwood in the
bays of Campeachy and Honduras, from fishing on the
banks of Newfoundland, on the coast of Labrador, or
in the bay of St. Lawrence, &c."
We have no use for logwood, but to remit it for your
fineries. We joined in conquering the Bay of St. Law
rence and its dependencies.' As to the Sugar Islands,
if you won't aflow us to trade with them, perhaps you
wifl allow them to trade with us ; or do you intend to
starve them ? Pray keep your bounties, and let us
hear no more of them ; and your troops, who never
protected us against the savages, nor are fit for such

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 231
a service; and the three hundred thousand pounds,
which you seem to think so much clear profit to us,
when, in fact, they never spend a penny among us, but
they have for it from us a penny's worth. The manu
factures they buy are brought from you ; the provisions
we could, as we always did, sefl elsewhere for as much
money. HoUand, France, and Spain would aU be glad
of our custom, and pleased to see the separation.
" And, after all, and m spite of any thing you can do,
we in Britain shafl stifl retain the greatest part of your
European trade, because we shafl give a better price for
many of your commodities, than you can have any
where else, and we shafl sefl to you several of our.
manufactures^^ege^eis^rin"^' wjoUe^^^ " ,fetal
way, on cfeggp^ terms." vr
^^-OhoT Then you wiU stiU trade with us ! But can
that be without our trading with you ? And how can
you buy our oil, U" we catch no whales ?
" The leaders of your parties wiU then be setting aU
their engines to work, to make fools become the dupes
of fools."
Just as they do in England.
" And instead of having troops to defend them, and
those troops paid by Great Britain, they must defend
themselves, and pay themselves."
To defend them ! To oppress, insult, and murder
them, as at Boston !
"Not to mention, that the expenses of your ci\Tl
governments wfll be necessarily increased ; and that a
fleet raore or less must belong to each province for
guarding their coasts, ensuring the payment of duties,
and the like."
These evUs are aU imagmations of the author. The
same were predicted to the Netheriands, but have
never yet happened. But suppose aU of them together.

232 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
and many raore, it would be better to bear them than
submit to parhamentary taxation. We might stiU have
something we could caU our own. But, under the
power claimed by ParUament, we have not a single
sixpence. The author of this pamphlet, Dean Tucker, has al
ways been haunted with the fear of the seat of gov
ernment being soon to be removed to America. He
has, in his Tracts on Commerce, some just notions m
matters of trade and poUce, mixed with many wfld
and chimerical fancies totafly impracticable. He once
proposed, as a defence of the colonies, to clear the
jvoods for the width of a mfle aU along behind them,
'Tlm>ugmt aU America ''Ei^te^^^f*^ ^^'^^'-^^
easily recovered than in England, Ishe pfafcli..l^ ^ mgnt
shorter and less expensive, and land subject to execu>
tion for the payment of debts. Evidence, taken ex
parte in England, to prove a debt, is aUowed in theh
courts, and during the whole dispute there was not
one single instance of any EngUsh raerchant's raeeting
with the least obstmction in any process or suit cora
menced there for that purpose.
"Externally, by being severed from the British em
pire, you wiU be excluded from cutting logwood in the
bays of Campeachy and Honduras, from fishing on the
banks of Newfoundland, on the coast of Labrador, or
in the bay of St. Lawrence, &c."
We have no use for logwood, but to remit it for your
fineries. We joined in conquering the Bay of St. Law
rence and its dependencies.' As to the Sugar Islands,
if you won't aUow us to trade with them, perhaps you
wUl allow them to trade with us ; or do you intend to
starve them ? Pray keep your bounties, and let us
hear no more of thera ; and your troops, who never
protected us against the savages, nor are fit for such

PROPOSED COLONY IN ILLINOIS.

Some time after Dr. Franklin went to England on his second
mission, as agent for Pennsylvania, a project was formed in Ameri
ca, originating with Sir William Johnson, Governor Franklin, and
others, for settling a new colony in the Illinois country. They wrote
to Dr. Franklin, requesting him to use his influence to procure a
grant from the crown for that purpose. The ministers at first seem
ed to listen to the proposal, but, after two years' consideration, the
plan was finally abandoned. The following extracts are from letters
written by Dr. Franklin to his son on this subject. The copy from
which they are printed was found among Sir_William Johnsooy
papers. ¦ ^^.^ssy In Ihe wooUeET-stutf^anSTmetal
Soon after thi^'-;^ '. „
onfoot,w>-'^^P^''*^™«"
pr-'-crio ! Then you wiU stiU trade with us ! But can
that be without our trading with you ? And how can
you buy our oU, if we catch no whales ?
" The leaders of your parties wiU then be setting afl
their engines to work, to make fools become the dupes
of fools."
Just as they do in England.
" And instead of having troops to defend thera, and
those troops paid by Great Britain, they raust defend
themselves, and pay themselves."
To defend thera ! To oppress, insult, and murder
them, as at Boston !
"Not to raention, that the expenses of your ci\Tl
govemraents wifl be necessarily increased ; and that a
fleet more or less must belong to each province for
guarding their coasts, ensurmg the payment of duties,
and the like."
These evUs are aU imaginations of the author. The
same were predicted to the Netherlands, but have
never yet happened. But suppose aU of them together.

234 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
will endeavour to accorapUsh aU that you and our
friends desire relating to the settiement westward.
September \2ih, 1766. I have just received Sir WU
Uam's open letter to Secretary Conway, recomraending
your plan for a colony in the Illinois, which I am glad
of. I have closed and sent it to hira. He is not now
in that departraent ; but it wiU of course go to Lord
Shelburne, whose good opinion of it I have reason to
hope for ; and I think Mr. Conway was rather against
distant posts and settieraents in Araerica. We have,
however, suffered a loss in Lord Dartraouth, who, I
know, was incUned to a grant there in favor of the
"Sddjer^j^jini^^jwdjgiU^ is said to be terribly
afraid of dispeopling Ireland.""~~€reae|^l Lyman has
been long here soliciting such a grant, ana "will readUy
join the interest he has raade with ours, and I sht>uld
wish for a body of Connecticut settiers, rather than afl
from our frontiers. I purpose waiting on Lord Shel
burne on Tuesday, and hope to be able to send you
his sentiraents by Falconer, who is to sail about the
20th. A good deal, I imagine, wiU depend on the account,
when it arrives, of Mr. Croghan's negotiation in that
country. This is an affair I shaU seriously set about ;
but there are such continual changes here, that it is
very discouraging to afl applications to be made to the
ministry. I thought the last set wefl established, but
they are broken and gone. The present set are hardly
thought to stand very firm, and God only knows whom
we are to have next.
The plan is I thmk wefl drawn, and I imagine Sir
WiUiam's approbation wifl go a great way in recom
raending it, as he is much relied on in afl affairs, that
may have any relation to the Indians. Lord Adam

WALPOLE'S GRANT. 235
Gordon is not in town, but I shafl take the first oppor
tunity of conferring with hira. I thank the Company
for their wilUngness to take me m, and one or two
others that I may norainate. I have not yet concluded
whora to propose it to; but I suppose our friend Sar
gent should be one. I wish you had aflowed rae to
name more, as there wfll be in the proposed country,
by my reckoning, near sixty-three millions of acres,
and therefore enough to content a great number of
reasonable people, and by nurabers we raight increase
the weight of interest here. But perhaps we shafl do
without. September 27th, 1766. I have mentioned jheJUjsQir'
affair to Lord SbelbTirner His Lordship had read your
plan for estabhshing a colony there, recommended by
Sir WiUiam Johnson, and said it appeared to him a
reasonable scheme, but he found it did not quadrate
with the sentiments of people here ; * that their objec
tions to it were, the distance, which would raake it of
little use to this country, as the expense on the car
riage of goods would obUge the people to raanufacture
for themselves ; that it would for the same reason be
difficult both to defend it and to govern it ; that it
might lay the foundation of a power in the heart of
America, which in tirae raight be troublesorae to the
other colonies, and prejudicial to our govemment over
them ; and that people were wanted both here and in
the already settied colonies, so that none could be
spared for a new colony. These arguments, he said,
did not appear of much weight, and I endeavoured by
others to invaUdate them entirely. But his Lordship
did not declare whether he would or would not pro-

* I fancy, but am not certain, that his Lordship meant Lord HiUs
borough, Tsho, I am told, is not favorable to new settlements.

236 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
mote the undertaking; and we are to talk further
upon it.
I communicated to him two letters of Mr. Croghan's,
with his journal, and one or two of yours on that sub
ject, which he said he would read and consider ; and I
left with him one of Evans's maps of the middle colo
nies, in the sraaU-scale part of which I had raarked
with a wash of red ink the whole country included in
your boundaries. His Lordship remarked, that this
would coincide with General Lyman's project, and that
they might be united.
September soth, 1766. Ihave just had a visit from
•(Jglieral Lyman, and a good deal of conversation on
the IlUnois schem"^. HeTefl^ me^-J^at^Mr. Morgan,
who is under-secretary of the Southem department, is
much pleased with it ; and we are to go together to
talk to him concerning it.
October llth, 1766. I was again with Lord Shel
burne a few days since, and said a good deal to him
on the affair of the IHinois settlement. He was pleased
to say he really approved of it; but mtunated, that
every new proposed expense for Araerica would meet
with great difficulty here, the treasury being alarmed
and astonished at the growing charges there, and the
heavy accounts and drafts continuaUy brought in from
thence. That Major Farraer, for instance, had lately
drawn for no less than thirty thousand pounds extra
ordinary charges, on his going to take possession of
the Illinois ; and that the superintendents, particularly
the southem one, began also to draw very largely.
He spoke, however, very handsoraely of Sh WUliam
on many accounts.
JYovember 8ih, 1766. Mr. Jackson is now come to
town. The ministry have asked his opinion and ad
vice on your plan of a colony in the lUinois, and he has

WALPOLE'S GRANT. 237
just sent me to peruse his answer in writing, in which
he warmly recomraends it, and enforces it by strong
reasons ; which gives me great pleasure, as it corrob
orates what I have been saying on the same topic, and
frora him appears less to be suspected of some Amer
ican bias.
February \4th, 1767. Great changes being expect
ed keeps men's minds in suspense, and obstmcts pub
lic affairs of every kind. It is therefore not to be won
dered at, that so Uttle progress is made in our American
scheraes of the Illinois grant, and retribution for Indian
losses. _
June IBth, 1767. The Illinois' affair goes forward
but slowly. . Lord Shelbume told me again last week,
that ie- highly approved of it, but others were not of
his sentiraents, particularly the Board of Trade. Ly
man is almost out of patience, and now talks of carry-
mg out his settiers without leave.
August 28ih, 1767. Last week I dined at Lord
Shelbume's, and had a long conversation with him
and Mr. Conway (there being no other company) on
the subject of reducing the Araerican expenses. They
have it in contemplation to retum the raanageraent of
Indian affairs into the hands of the several provinces,
on which the nations border, that the colonies raay
bear the charge of treaties, and the like, which they
think wifl then be managed more frugafly, the treasury
being thed with the imraense drafts of the superin
tendents. I took the opportunity of urging it as one mode of
saving expense in supporting the out-posts, that a set
tlement should be made in the Illinois country, expa
tiated on the various advantages, namely, fumishing
provisions cheaper to the garrisons, securing the coun
try, retaining the trade, raising a strength there, which.

238 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
on occasions of a future war, might easUy be poured
down the Mississippi upon the lower country, and into
the Bay of Mexico, to be used against Cuba, the
French Islands, or Mexico itself. I mentioned your
plan, its being approved by Sir WUliam Johnson, and
the readiness and abiUty of the gentiemen concemed to
carry the settieraent into execution, with very httle ex
pense to govemraent. The secretaries appeared finaUy
to be fully convinced, and there reraained no obstacle
but the Board of Trade, which was to be brought
over privately before the raatter should be referred to
ihem officially. In case of laying aside the superin-
tottdentsT^ provi§!6if-^'a64liought of for Sir WiUiam
Johnson. He wUl be made governor of the new
colony. ' ' -^^^
October 9th, 1767. I returned last night from Paris,
and just now hear that the lUinbis settlement is ap
proved of in the Cabinet Council, so far as to be re
ferred to the Board of Trade for their opinion, who are
to consider it next week.
Jfovember 13ih, 1767. Since my return, the affair
of the lUinois settlement has been renewed. The King
in CouncU referred the proposal to the Board of Trade,
who caUed for the opinion of the merchants on two
points, namely, whether the settlement of colonies in
the IlUnois country and at Detroit raight not contribute
to proraote and extend the coraraerce of Great Britain ;
and whether the regulation of Indian trade might not
best be left to the several colonies that carry on such
trade ; both which questions they considered at a
meeting where Mr. Jackson and I were present, and
answered in the affirmative unanimously, delivering
their report accordingly to the Board. We shaU know
in a few days what report the Board wiU make to the
King in Council. Enclosed I send you the notice I

WALPOLE'S GRANT. 239
received from the. Board to attend the first call with
the merchants. You must know, govemment here is
quite tired of having the raanageraent of Indian affairs,
the superintendents drawing for such iraraense sums to
be given in presents to the Indians; who, neverthe
less, they say, are not kept in so good temper as when
every colony managed the neighbouring Indians, and
put the crown to no expense. It seems, therefore, the
present inclination to drop the superintendencies, and
provide for Sir Wifliam in some other way ; but wheth
er they wifl finally resolve on this, is rather uncertain ;
for they seera afraid of changing any thing in settled
measures, lest soraething should go wrong, and the
opposition make an advantage of it against them. The
merchants, to a man, disliked the plan bf regulating
the trade under the superintendents, and speak strong
ly against it. The plan I think I have seen in your
hands, as proposed by the Board of Trade.
JYovember 25th, 1767. As soon as I received Mr.
Galloway's, Mr. Samuel Wharton's, and Mr. Croghan's
letters on the subject of the boundary, I coraraunicated
thera to Lord Shelburne. He invited rae the next day
to dine with hira. Lord Clare was to have been there,
but did not corae. There was nobody but Mr. Mac
lean. My Lord knew nothing of the boundary's hav
ing been agreed on by Sir William; had sent the
letters to the Board of Trade, directing search to be
made there for Sir WiUiam's letters ; and ordered Mr.
Maclean to search the secretary's office, who found
nothing. We had rauch discourse about it, and I
pressed the importance of despatching orders imme
diately to Sir WilUam to coraplete the affair. His
Lordship asked who was to raake ttie purchase, that
is, who should be at the expense. I said, that if the
Une included any lands within the grants of the charter

240 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
colonies, they should pay the purchase money of such
proportion. If any within the proprietary grants, they
should pay their proportion. But what was within
royal govemments, where the Kmg granted the lands,
the crown should pay for that proportion. His Lord
ship was pleased to say, he thought this reasonable.
He finafly desh-ed me to go to Lord Clare as from
hhn, and urge the busmess there, which I undertook
to do.
Among other things at this conversation, we tafljed
of the new settieraents. His Lordship told me he had
himself drawn up a paper of reasons for those settle
ments which he laid before the Kmg in Councfl ; ac
quainting them, that he did not offer them merely as
his own sentiments ; they were what he had coUected
from General Amherst, Dr. Franklin, and Mr. Jackson,
.three gentlemen that were aflowed to be the best
authorities for any thmg that related to America. I
think he added, that the CouncU seemed to approve of
the design ; I know it was referred to the Board of
Trade, who, I beUeve, have not yet reported on it, and
I doubt wifl report against it.
I waited next mommg on Lord Clare, and pressed
the matter of the boundary closely upon hhn. He
said they could not find, that they had ever received
any letters from Sir WUUam conceming it, but were
searching farther; agreed to the necessity of settUng
it, but thought there would be some difiiculty about
who should pay the purchase money ; for that this
country was aheady so loaded, it would bear no more.
We then talked of the new colonies. I found he was
incUned to think one near the mouth of the Ohio
might be of use in securing the country, but did not
much approve that at Detroit. And, as to the trade,
he imagined it would be of Uttle consequence, if we

WALPOLE'S GRANT. 241
had it aU, but supposed our traders would sefl the pel
try chiefly to the French and Spaniards at New Or
leans, as he heard they had hitherto done. Pray tefl
me, if you know, whether that has been the case with
regard to the skins belonging to our friends B. W.
&, M.
March I3th, 1768. The purpose of settUng the new
colonies seems at present to be dropt, the change
of Araerican adrainistration not appearing favorable to
it. There seeras rather to be an incUnation to abandon
the posts in the back country, as raore expensive than
useful. But counsels are so continually fluctuating
here, that nothing can be depended on. The new
secretary, Lord H., is, I find, of opmion, that the troops
should be placed, the chief part of thera, in Canada and
Florida, only three battalions to be quartered in New
York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania ; and that Forts
Pitt, Niagara, Oswego, &c. should be left to the colo
nies to garrison and keep up, if they think it necessary
for the protection of their trade. Probably his opinion
may be foflowed, if new changes do not produce other
ideas. The letters from Sir Wflliam Johnson, relating
to the boundary, were at last found, and orders were
sent over, about Christraas, for corapletmg the purchase
and settiement of the difference about it. My Lord H.
has promised me to send dupUcates by this packet, and
urge the speedy execution, as I represented to him the
danger that these dissatisfactions of the Indians might
produce a war.

VOL. IV. 31

CAUSES

op THE

AMERICAN DISCONTENTS BEFORE 17G8.

The waves never rise but when the winds blow. — Prov.

In a letter to his son, dated London, December 19th, 1767, Dr.
Franklin writes ; " The resolutions of the Boston people, concern
ing trade, make a great noise here. Parliament has not taken
notice of them, but the newspapers are in full cry against Araerica.
Colonel Onslow told me at court last Sunday, that I could not con
ceive how much the friends of America were run upon and hurt
by them, and how much the Grenvillians triumphed. I have just
written a paper for next Tuesday's Chronicle, to extenuate matters
a little." Again, in a letter to T. Wharton, dated February 20th, 1768, he
says ; " The proceedings in Boston, as the news came just upon
the meeting of Parliament, and occasioned great clamor here, gave
me much concern. And, as every offensive thing done in America
is charged upon all, and every province, though unconcerned in it,
suffers in its interests through the general disgust given, and the
little distinction here made, it became necessary, I thought, to pal
liate the matter a little for our own sakes, and therefore I wrote the
paper, which probably you have seen printed in the ^Chronicle of
January 7th, and signed F. S."
From another letter to his son, it would seem, that the article
was much altered in the press, and not entirely to his satisfaction.
" Little at the present is thought of," said he, " but elections;
which gives me hopes that nothing will be done against America
this session, though the Boston Gazette had occasioned some heats,
and the Boston resolutions a prodigious clamor. I have endeav
oured to palliate matters for them as well as I can. I send you my
manuscript of one paper, though I think you take the Clironicle.
The editor of that paper, one Jones, seems a Grenvillian, or is

AMERICAN DISCONTENTS. 243
very cautious, as you will see by his corrections and omissions.
He has drawn the teeth and pared the nails of my paper, so that
it can neither scratch nor bite. It seems only to paw and
mumble." — 9 January, 1768.
The piece was likewise reprinted the same year, as a Postscript
to a pamphlet entitled The True Sentiments of America. — Editor.

Sir,
As the cause of the present fll-humor in America,
and of the resolutions taken there to purchase less of
our manufactures, does not seem to be generally un
derstood, it may afford some satisfaction to your readers,
if you give them the following short historical state
of facts.
From the time that the colonies were first considered
as capable of granting aids to the crown, down to the
end of the last war, it is said, that the constant mode
of obtaining those aids was by requisition made from
the crown, through its governors, to the several assem
bUes, in circular letters from the Secretary of State, in
his Majesty's name ; setting forth the occasion, requir
ing them to take the raatter into consideration, and ex
pressing a reliance on their prudence, duty, and affec
tion to his Majesty's govemment, that they would grant
such sums, or raise such numbers of raen, as were suit
able to their respective circumstances.
The colonies, being accustomed to this raethod, have
from time to time granted money to the crown, or
raised troops for its service, in proportion to their abiU
ties ; and during afl the last war beyond theh abilities,
so that considerable sums were retumed thera yearly
by Parliaraent, ..as they had exceeded their proportion.
Had this happy raethod of requisition been continued,
(a method that left the King's subjects in those reraote
countries the pleasure of showing their zeal and loyalty.

244 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
and of hnagining that they recoraraended themselves to
their sovereign by the hberaUty of their voluntary
grants,) there is no doubt, but aU the raoney that could
reasonably be expected to be raised frora thera in any
manner, raight have been obtained, without the least
heart-burning, offence, or breach of the harraony of
affections and interests that so long subsisted between
the two countries.
It has been thought wisdom in a govemment, exer
cising sovereignty over different kinds of people, to
have some regard to prevailing and established opin
ions among the people to be governed, wherever such
opinions might, in their effects, obstruct or promote
public measures. If they tend to obstmct pubhc ser
vice, they are to be changed, if possible, before we
attempt to act against them; and they can only be
changed by reason and persuasion. But, if public busi
ness can be carried on without thwarting those opin^
ions ; if they can be, on the contrary, raade subser
vient to it ; they are not unnecessarily to be thwarted,
however absurd such popular opinions raay be in their
nature. This had been the wisdora of our government with
respect to raising money in the colonies. It was wefl
known, that the colonists universaUy were of opinion,
that no money could be levied from EngUsh subjects,
but by their own consent, given by theraselves or their
chosen representatives ; that, therefore, whatever raoney
was to be raised fi-ora the people in the colonies, must
first be granted by their Assemblies, as the raoney
raised in Britain is first to be granted by the House
of Coraraons; that this right of grantmg theh own
money was essential to Enghsh hberty ; and that, if
any man, or body of men, in which they had no rep
resentative of their choosing, could tax them at pleas-

AMERICAN DISCONTENTS. 245
ure, they could not be said to have any property, any
thing they could caU their own. But, as these opinions
did not hinder their granting raoney voluntarily and
amply, whenever the crown by its servants came into
their AssembUes (as it does into its Parliaraents of
Britain and Ireland) and demanded aids ; therefore that
method was chosen, rather than the hateful one of ar
bitrary taxes.
I do not undertake here to support these opinions
of the Americans ; they have been refuted by a late
act of Parliament, declaring its own power ; which very
Parliament, however, showed wisely so rauch tender
regard to those inveterate prejudices, as to repeal a tax
that had raiUtated against thera. And those prejudices
are stiU so fixed and rooted in the Araericans, that, it
has been supposed, not a single raan araong thera has
been convinced of his error, even by that act of Par
haraent. The person, then, who first projected to lay aside the
accustomed method of requisition, and to raise money
on America by stamps, seems not to have acted wisely,
in deviating from that method (which the colonists
looked upon as constitutional), and thwarting unneces
sarily the fixed prejudices of so great a nuraber of the
King's subjects. It was not, however, for want of
knowledge, that what he was about to do would give
them offence ; he appears to have been very sensible
of this, and apprehensive that it raight occasion some
disorders ; to prevent or suppress which, he projected
another biU that was brought in the same session with
the Stamp Act, whereby it was to be made lawful for
miUtary officers in the colonies to quarter their soldiers
in private houses.
This seemed intended to awe the people into a com
pUance with the other act. Great opposition, however,
tJ*

246 FRANKLIN & WRITINGS.
bemg raised here against the bUl, by the agents from
the colonies and the merchants trading thither, (the
colonists declaring, that, under such a power in the
army, no one could look on his house as his own, or
think he had a horae, when soldiers might be thrust
into it and mixed with his family at the pleasure of an
officer,) that part of the bUl was dropt ; but there stUl
remained a clause, when it passed into a law, to obUge
the several AsserabUes to provide quarters for the sol
diers, furnishing them with firing, bedding, candles,
sraall beer or rura, and sundry other articles, at the
expense of the several provinces. And this act con
tinued in force when the Starap Act was repealed ;
though, if obUgatory on the AsserabUes, it equally raUi-
tated against the American principle above mentioned,
that money is not to be raised on English subjects
without their consent.
The colonies nevertheless, being put into high good-
humor by the repeal of the Stamp Act, chose to avoid
a fresh dispute upon the other, it being temporary and
soon to expire, never, as they hoped, to revive again ;
and in the mean time they, by various ways, in different
colonies, provided for the quartering of the troops ;
either by acts of their own Asserablies, without taking
notice of the act of Parharaent, or by sorae variety or
smaU dirainution, as of salt and vinegar, in the suppUes
required by the act ; that what they did raight appear
a voluntary act of their own, and not done in due
obedience to an act of Pariiaraent, which, according to
their ideas of their rights, they thought hard to obey.
It raight have been weU, if the raatter had then
passed without notice ; but, a govemor having written
home an 2-ngry and aggravating letter upon this con
duct in the Assembly of his province, the outed pro-

AMERICAN DISCONTENTS. 247
poser* of the Stamp Act and his adherents, then in
the opposition, raised such a clamor against America,
as bemg in rebeUion ; and against those who had been
for the repeal of the Stamp Act, as having thereby been
encouragers of this supposed rebelUon ; that it was
thought necessary to enforce the quartering act by an
other act of ParUament, taking away from the province
of New York, which had been the raost expUcit in
its refusal, aU the powers of legislation, tiU it should
have compUed with that act. The news of which
greatly alarmed the people everywhere in America, as
(it had been said) the language of such an act seemed
to thera to be ; Obey impUcitly laws raade by the Par
Uament of Great Britain to raise money on you without
your consent, or you shaU enjoy no rights or privUeges
at aU.
At the same tirae, a person lately in high office t
projected the levying raore raoney from America, by
new duties on various articles of our own raanufacture,
as glass, paper, painters' colors, &c., appointing a new
board of custoras, and sending over a set of corarais
sioners, with large salaries, to be established at Boston,
who were to have the care of coUecting those duties ;
which were by the act expressly raentioned to be in
tended for the payraent of the salaries of governors,
judges, and other officers of the crown in America ; it
being a pretty general opinion here, that those officers
ought not to depend on the people there, for any part
of their support.
It is not my intention to combat this opinion. But
perhaps it raay be sorae satisfaction to your readers, to
know what ideas the Araericans have on the subject.
They say then, as to govemors, that they are not Uke
* Mr. George Grenville. f Mr. Charles Townshend.

248 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
princes, whose posterity have an inheritance in the
governraent of a nation, and therefore an interest in its
prosperity; they are generally strangers to the prov
mces they are sent to govern ; have no estate, natural
connexion or relation there, to give thera an affection
for the country ; that they come only to make money
as fast as they can ; are sometimes men of vicious
characters and broken fortunes, sent by a mmister
merely to get them out of the way ; that, as they in
tend staying m' the country no longer than their gov
emraent conrihues, and purpose to leave no faraUy
behind them, they are apt to be regardless of the good
wiU of the people, and care not what is said or thought
of them after they are gone.
Theu- situation, at the same time, gives them many
opportunities of bemg vexatious, and they are often
so, notwithstanding their dependence on the Assemblies
for aU that part of theh support, that does not arise
from fees estabUshed by law ; but would probably be
much more so, if they were to be supported by raoney
drawn frora the people without their consent or good
wiU, which is the professed design of the new act.
That, if by raeans of these forced duties government
is to be supported in America, without the intervention
of the AsserabUes, their AssembUes wiU soon be looked
upon as useless ; and a govemor wiU not caU them, as
having nothing to hope from their raeetmg, and per
haps something to fear from their inquiries mto, and
reraonstrances against, his raaladrainistration. That
thus the people wiU be deprived of their raost essen
tial rights. That it being, as at present, a governor's
interest to cultivate the good will, by proraoting the
welfare, of the people he governs, can be attended with
no prejudice to the raother country ; since afl the laws
he may be prevailed on to give his assent to are subject

AMERICAN DISCONTENTS. 249
to revision here, and, if reported against by the Board
of Trade, are immediately repealed by the crown ; nor
dare he pass any law contrary to his instructions, as
he holds his office during the pleasure of the crown,
and his securities are liable for the penalties of their
bonds if he contravenes those instructions. This is
what they say as to governors.
As to judges, they aflege, that, being appointed from
this country, and holding theh- comraissions, not dur
ing good behaviour, as in Britain, but during pleasure,
afl the weight of interest or influence would be thrown
into one of the scales (which ought to be held even),
if the salaries are also to be paid out of duties raised
upon the people without their consent, and independ
ent of their asserablies' approbation or disapprobation
of the judge's behaviour. That it is tme, judges
should be free frora all influence; and, therefore,
whenever government here wUl grant coramissions to
able and honest judges during good behaviour, the
asserabhes wiU settle permanent and araple salaries on
them during their comraissions ; but, at present, they
have no other raeans of getting rid of an ignorant or
an unjust judge (and sorae of scandalous characters
have, they say, been soraetiraes sent thera) left, but by
starving thera out.
I do not suppose these reasonings of theirs wUl ap
pear here to have rauch weight. I do not produce
them with an expectation of convincing your readers.
I relate them merely in pursuance of the task I have
imposed on myself, to be an impartial historian of
American facts and opinions.
The colonists being thus greatly alarmed, as I said
before, by the news of the act for abolishing the legis
lature of New York, and the imposition of these new
duties, professedly for such disagreeable purposes,
VOL. IV. 32

260 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
(accompanied by a new set of revenue officers, with
large appointraents, which gave strong suspicions that
more business of the sarae kind was soon to be pro
vided for them, that they might earn their salaries,) be
gan seriously to consider their situation ; and to revolve
afresh in theh minds grievances, which, from their re
spect and love for this country, they had long home,
and seemed almost wiUing to forget.
They reflected how lightly the interest of aU Amer
ica had been estimated here, when the interests of a
few of the inhabitants of Great Britain happened to
have the smaUest competition with it. That the whole
American people was forbidden the advantage of a
direct iraportation of wine, oil, and fruit, frora Portugal,
but raust take them loaded with afl the expense of a
voyage one thousand leagues round about, being to be
landed first in England, to be re-shipped for America ;
expenses araounting, in war time at least, to thhty
pounds per cent more than otherwise they would have
been charged with ; and afl this, merely that a few
Portugal raerchants in London raay gain a commission
on those goods passing through their hands, (Portugal
raerchants, by the by, that can coraplain loudly of the
smaflest hardships laid on their trade by foreigners,
and yet, even in the last year, could oppose with afl
theh influence the giving ease to their feUow subjects
laboring under so heavy an oppression!) That, on
a slight complaint of a few Virginia merchants, nine
colonies had been restrained from making paper money,
become absolutely necessary to their internal commerce,
from the constant remittance of their gold and sflver
to Britain.
But not only the interest of a particular body of
merchants, but the mterest of any smafl body of British
tradesmen or artificers, has been found, they say, to

AMERICAN DISCONTENTS. 251
outweigh that of all the King's subjects in the colonies.
There cannot be a stronger natural right than that of a
man's making the best profit he can of the natural pro
duce of his lands, provided he does not thereby hurt
the state in general. Iron is to be found everywhere
in America, and the beaver furs are the natural produce
of that country. Hats, and naUs, and steel are wanted
there as weU as here. It is of no importance to the
comraon welfare of the erapire, whether a subject of
the King's obtains his Uving by raaking hats on this or
on that side of the water. Yet the hatters of England
have prevaUed to obtain an act in their own favor, re
straining that raanufacture in Araerica; in order to
obUge the Araericans to send their beaver to England
to be raanufactured, and purchase back the hats, loaded
with the charges of a double transportation. In the
sarae raanner have a few nail-raakers, and a stiU smaller
body of steel-makers (perhaps there are not half a
dozen of these in England), prevaUed totaUy to forbid
by an act of ParUament the erecting of sUtting-miUs, or
steel-furnaces, in Araerica ; that the Araericans may be
obliged to take aU their naUs for their buUdings, and
steel for their tools, from these artificers, under the
sarae disadvantages.*
* I shall here give the reader the note at the end of the fourtli para
graph of the Farmer's Seventh Letter, written by Mr. Dickinson. — B. V.
" Many remarkable instances might be produced of the extraordinary
inattention with which bills of great importance, conceming these colo
nies, have passed in Parliament ; which is owing, as it is supposed, to
the bills being brought in, by the persons who have points to carry, so
artfully framed, that it is not easy for the members in general, in the
haste of business, to discover their tendency.
"The following instances show the truth of this remark.
"When Mr. Grenville, in the violence of reformation and innovation,
formed the 4th George III. ch. 15th, for regulating the American trade,
the woiii ' Ireland ' was dropped in the clause relating to our iron and
lumber, so that we could send these articles to no other part of Europe,

252 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Added to these, the Americans remembered the act
authorizing the most cruel insult that perhaps was ever
offered by one people to another, that of emptying ovr
gaols into theu- settieraents ; Scotland too havmg within
these two years obtained the privilege it had not before,
of sending its rogues and viUains also to the plantations.
I say, reflecting on these things, they said one to an
other, (their newspapers are fufl of such discourses,)
" These people are' not content with raaking a monop
oly of us, forbidding us to trade with any other coun
try of Europe, and compeUing us to buy every thing
but to Great Britain. This was so unreasonable a restriction, and so
contrary to the sentiments of the legislature, for many years before,
that it is surprising it should not have been taken notice of in the House.
However, the bill passed into a law. But when the matter was ex
plained, this restriction was taken off in a subsequent act.
" I cannot say how long after the taking off this restriction, as I have
not the acts, but I think in less than eighteen months, another act of
Parliament passed, in which the word 'Ireland' was left out, as it had
been before. The matter, being a second time explained, was a second
time regulated.
" Now, if it be considered, that the omission mentioned, struck ofl^
with one word, so very great a part of our trade, it must appear remark
able ; and equally so is the method by which rice became an enumerated
commodity, and therefore could be carried to Great Britain only.
" ' The enumeration was obtained,' (says Mr. Gee, on Trade, p. 32,) ' by
one Cole, a captain of a ship employed by a company then trading to
Carolina ; for several ships going from England thither, and purchasing
rice for Portugal, prevented the aforesaid captain of a loading. Upon
his coming home, he possessed one Mr. Lowndes, a member of Parha
ment, (who was frequently employed to prepare bills,) with an opinion,
that carrying rice directly to Portugal was a prejudice to the trade of
England, and privately got a clause into an act to make it an enumerated
commodity ; by which means he secured a freight to himself. But the
consequence proved a vast loss to the nation.'
" I find that this clause, ' privately got into an act, for the benefit of
Captain Cole, to the vast loss of the nation,' is foisted into the 3d Anne,
ch. 5tli, entitled, 'An Act for granting to her Majesty a further subsidy
on wines and merchandises imported;' with which it has no more con
nexion, than with 34th Edward I., 34th and 35th of Henry VIIL, or the
25th Charles II., which provide that no person shall be taxed but by
himself or his representatives."

AMERICAN DISCONTENTS. 253
of them, though in many articles we could furnish our
selves ten, twenty, and even to fifty per cent cheaper
elsewhere ; but now they have as good as declared
they have a right to tax us ad libitum internally and
externally ; and that our constitutions and liberties
shafl afl be taken away, if we do not submit to that
claim. " They are not content with the high prices at which
they sefl us their goods, but have now begun to en
hance those prices by new duties ; and, by the expen
sive apparatus of a new set of officers, appear to in
tend an augraentation and raultipUcation of those bur
dens that shafl stifl be raore grievous to us. Our
people have been fooUshly fond of their superfluous
modes and manufactures, to the irapoverishmg our
own country, carrying off all our cash, and load
ing us with debt ; they wifl not suffer us to restrain
the luxury of our inhabitants, as they do that of their
own, by laws ; they can raake laws to discourage or
prohibit the iraportation of French superfluities; but
though those of England are as ruinous to us as the
French ones are to them, if we make a law of that
kind, they imraediately repeal it.
" Thus they get afl our raoney frora us by trade ;
and every profit we can anywhere make by our fisher
ies, our produce, or our commerce, centres finally with
them ; but this does not signify. It is time, then, to
take care of ourselves by the best means in our power.
Let us unite in solemn resolution and engagements
with and to each other, that we wifl give these new
officers as littie trouble as possible, by not consuming
the BritisI manufactures on which they are to levy the
duties. Let us agree to consurae no more of their
expensive gewgaws. Let us Uve frugafly, and let us
industriously manufacture what we can for ourselves;
VOL. IV. V

254 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
thus we shaU be able honorably to discharge the debts
we already owe thera ; and after that, we raay be able
to keep some raoney in our country, not only for the
uses of our internal coraraerce, but for the service of
our gracious sovereign, whenever he shaU have occasion
for it, and think proper to require it of us in the old
constitutional raanner. For, notwithstanding the re
proaches thrown out against us in their pubUc papers
and paraphlets, notwithstanding we have been revUed
in their senate as rebels and traitors, we are truly a
loyal people. Scotiand has had its rebeUions, and Eng
land its plots against the present royal faraily; but
America is untainted with those crimes ; there is in it
scarce a man, there is not a single native of our coun
try, who is not firraly attached to his King by prin
ciple and by affection.
" But a new kind of loyalty seems to be requhed of
us, a loyalty to ParUament ; a loyalty that is to ex
tend, it is said, to a surrender of afl our properties,
whenever a House of Comraons, in which there is not
a single member of our choosing, shafl think fit to grant
them away without our consent ; and to a patient suf
fering the loss of our privUeges as EngUshraen, fl" we
cannot subrait to raake such surrender. We were
separated too far from Britain by the ocean, but we
were united to it by respect and love; so that we
could at any time freely have spent our lives and Uttle
fortunes in its cause; but this unhappy new system
of poUtics tends to dissolve those bands of union, and
to sever us for ever."
These are the wUd ravings of the, at present, hafl
distracted Americans. To be sure, no reasonable man
in England can approve of such sentiments, and, as I
said before, I do not pretend to support or justify them ;
but I sincerely wish, for the sake of the manufactures

AMERICAN DISCONTENTS. 255
and commerce of Great Britain, and for the sake of the
strength, which a firm union with our growing colo
nies would give us, that these people had never
been thus needlessly driven out of their senses. I
am yours, &c. F. S.

PREFACE TO THE
"LETTERS FROM A FARMER
IN PENNSYLVANIA."

When the celebrated Farmer's Letters, written by John Dick
inson, reached the hands of Dr. Franklin in London, he sent them
to press there, and prefixed the following address to the reader in
the form of a preface. — Editor.

When I consider our fellow subjects in America
as rational creatures, I cannot but wonder, that, during
the present wide difference of sentiraents in the two
countries, concerning the power of Parliaraent in lay
ing taxes and duties on America, no appUcation has
been made to their understandings, no able and leamed
pen among us has been employed in convincing them
that they are in the wrong ; proving clearly, that, by
the estabUshed law of nations, or by the terms of their
original constitution, they are taxable by our ParUament
though ihey have no representative in it.
On the contrary, whenever there is any news of dis
content in America, the cry is, "Send over an army
or a fleet, and reduce the dogs to reason."
It is said of choleric people, that with them there is
but a word and a blow.
I hope Britain is not so choleric, and wiU never be
so angry with her colonies as to strike thera. But
that if she should ever think it may be necessary, she

FARMER'S LETTERS. 257
wUl at least let the icord go before the blow, and rea
son with thera.
To do this clearly, and with the raost probabUity of
success, by reraoving their prejudices and rectifying
their misapprehensions (if they are such), it wifl be
necessary to leam what those prejudices and misap
prehensions are ; and before we can either refute or
admit their reasons or arguments, we should certainly
know them.
It is to that end I have handed the foflowing Letters
(lately pubUshed in America) to the press here. They
were occasioned by the act made (since the repeal of
the Stamp Act) for raising a revenue in America by
duties on glass, paper, &c.
The author is a gentleman of repute in that country
for his knowledge of its affairs, and, it is said, speaks
the general sentiments of the inhabitants. How far
those sentiments are right or wrong, I do not pretend
at present to judge. I wish to see first what can be
said on the other side of the question. I hope this
pubUcation wUl produce a fuU answer, if we can make
one. If it does, this pubUcation wUl have had its use.
No offence to govemment is intended by it ; and it is
hoped none wiU be taken. N. N
London, May Sth, 1768.
VOL. IV. 33 v*

QUERIES
BY MR. STRAHAN,
RESPECTING AMERICAN AFFAIRS,
AND
DR FRANKLIN'S ANSWERS.

Mr. Strahan was printer to the King, in which station he ac
quired wealth and consideration, which, added to his respectable
talents and character, raised him to political rank and eminence.
In the year 1775, he was elected to Parliament from the borough of
Malmsbury, as a colleague with Mr. Fox. An intimacy of long
standing subsisted between him and Dr. Franklin, which may per
haps have been strengthened by the similarity of their early pur
suits. — Editor.

W. STRAHAN TO B. FRANKLIN. November 21st, 1769.
Dear Sir,
In the raany conversations we have had together
about our present disputes with North America, we
perfectly agreed in wishing they may be brought to a
speedy and happy conclusion. How this is to be done
is not so easily ascertained.
Two objects, I humbly apprehend, his Majesty's
servants have now in conteraplation. First, To re
lieve the colonies frora the taxes complained of, which
they certainly had no hand in imposing. Secondly,
To preserve the honor, the dignity, and the supremacy
of the British legislature over afl his Majesty's do-
mmions.

STRAHAN'S QUERIES. 259
As I know your smgular knowledge of the subject
hi question, and am as fully convmced of your cordial
attachraent to his Majesty, and your sincere desire to
proraote the happiness equally of all his subjects, I
beg you would, m your own clear, brief, and expUcit
manner, send me an answer to the foflowing questions.
I raake this request now, because this matter is of the
utraost importance, and must very quickly be agitated.
And I do it with the more freedom, as you know rae
and my raotives too weU, to entertam the raost reraote
suspicion that I wUl raake an hnproper use of any in
formation you shaU hereby convey to me.
1. WUl not a repeal of aU the duties (that on tea
excepted, which was before paid here on exportation,
and of course no new imposition,) fuUy satisfy the colo
nists?* If you answer in the negative,
2. Your reasons for that opinion?
3. Do you think the only effectual way of com
posing the present differences, is to put the Ameri
cans precisely in the situation they were in before
the passing of the late Stamp Act? If that is your
opmion, * In the year 1767, for the express purpose of raising a revenue in
America, glass, red lead, white lead, painters' colors, paper, and tea,
(which last article was subject to various home impositions,) became
charged by act of Parliament, with new permanent duties payable in
the American ports. Soon after, in the same sessions, (the East India
Company promising indemnification for the experiment,) a temporary
alteration was made with respect to the home customs or excise upon
certain teas ; in the hope, that a deduction in the nominal imposition,
by producing a more extended consumption, would give an increased
sum to the exchequer. Mr. Strahan, comparing only the amounts of
the imposed American duty, and the deducted home duty, determines
that the Americans had suffered no new imposition. The Americans,
it seems, thought otherwise. Had we established this precedent for a
revenue, we thought we had every thing to hope ; yet we affect sur
prise, when the colonies avoided an acquiescence, which by parity of
reasoning gave them every thing to fear. — B. V.

260 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
4. Your reasons for that opmion?
5. If this last method is deemed by the legislature
and his Majesty's ministers to be repugnant to theh
duty, as guardians of the just rights of the crown and
of theu- feUow subjects, can you suggest any other
way of terrainatmg these disputes, consistent with the
ideas of justice and propriety conceived by the Bang's
subjects on both sides of the Atlantic?
6. And, if this raethod was actuaUy foUowed, do you
not think it would actuaUy encourage the violent and
factious part of the colonists to aira at stifl farther con
cessions from the mother country ?
7. If they are reUeved in part only, what do you,
as a reasonable and dispassionate man, and an equal
fiiend to both sides, hnagme wifl be the probable con
sequences ?
The answers to these questions, I humbly conceive,
wUl include aU the information I want, and I beg you
wiU favor me with them as soon as may be. Every
weU-wisher to the peace and prosperity of the British
eraphe, and every fi-iend to our truly happy constitu
tion, raust be deshous of seeing even the most trivial
causes of dissension among our feflow subjects re
moved. Our domestic squabbles, in ray mind, are
nothmg to what I ara speaking of. This you know
much better than I do, and therefore I need add
nothing farther to recoraraend this subject to your
serious consideration. I ara, with the most cordial
esteem and attachment, dear Sir, your faithful and
affectionate humble servant,
W. Strahan.

STRAHAN'S QUERIES. 261
THE ANSWER.
Craven Street, November 29th, 1769.
Dear Sir,
Being just returned to town from a littie excursion,
I find yours of the 2 Ist, containing a nuraber of que
ries, that would require a pamphlet to answer them
fully. You, however, desire only brief answers, which
I shafl endeavour to give.
Previous to your queries, you tefl me that you appre
hend his Majesty's servants have now "in conterapla
tion, First, to relieve the colonists frora the taxes com
plained of; Secondly, to preserve the honor, the dig
nity, and the supreraacy of the British legislature over
all his Majesty's dominions." I hope your information
is good, and that what you suppose to be in contem
plation, wUl be carried into execution, by repeaUng aU
the laws that have been made for raising a revenue in
America, by authority of Parliament, without the consent
of the people there. The honor and dignity of the
British legislature wiU not be hurt by such an act of
justice and wisdom. The wisest councUs are Uable to
be misled, especially in raatters reraote frora their in
spection. It is the persisting in an error, not the cor
recting it, that lessens the honor of any man or body
of raen.
The supremacy of that legislature, I believe, wUl be
best preserved by raaking a very sparing use of it ;
never but for the evident good of the colonies them
selves, or of the whole British empire ; never for the
partial advantage of Britain, to their prejudice. By
such prudent conduct, I imagine that supremacy may
be gradually strengthened, and in time fully estabUshed;
but otherwise, I apprehend it wiU be disputed, and lost
in the dispute. At present the colonies consent and

262 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
submit to it for the regulations of general commerce;
but a subraission to acts of ParUament was no part of
theh origmal constitution. Our forraer kings governed
their colonies, as they had govemed their dominions
in France, without the participation of British ParUa
ments. The ParUament of England never presumed
to interfere m that prerogative, tifl the time of the great
rebeUion, when they usurped the govemment of afl the
King's other dorainions, Ireland, Scotland, &c. The
colonies that held for the King, they conquered by
force of arras, and governed afterwards as conquered
countries ; but New England, having not opposed the
ParUament, was considered and treated as a sister-
Idngdora in araity vidth England, as appears by the
Joumals, March IOth, 1642.
" 1. Wifl not a repeal of afl the duties (that on the
tea excepted, which was before paid here on exporta
tion, and of course no new imposition,) fufly satisfy the
colonists ? "
Answer. I think not.
"2. Your reasons for that opinion?"
A. Because it is not the sum paid in that duty on
tea, that is complained of as a burden, but the principle
of the act expressed in the preamble ; viz. that those
duties were laid for the better support of govemment,
and the administration of justice, in the colonies.* This
the colonists think unnecessary, unjust, and dangerous
to their raost iraportant rights. Unnecessary, because
in afl the colonies (two or three new ones excepted)t
* " Men may lose httle property by an act which takes away all their
freedom. When a man is robbed of a trifle on the highway, it is not
the two pence lost that makes the capital outrage. Would twenty shil
lings have ruined Mr. Hampden's fortune ? No ! but the payment of
half twenty shilhngs, on the principle it was demanded, would have
made him a slave." See Mr. Burke's Speeches in 1774 and 1775.
— B. V.
t Nova Scotia, Georgia, the Floridas, and Canada.

STRAHAN'S QUERIES. 263
government and the adrainistration of justice were, and
always had been,- wefl supported without any charge
to Britain ; unjust, as it has made such colonies hable
to pay such charge for others, in which they had no
concern or interest ; dangerous, as such mode of rais
ing money for those purposes tended to render their
Assemblies useless ; for, if a revenue could be raised in
the colonies for afl the purposes of government by act
of ParUament, without grants from the people there,
governors, who do not generally love AsserabUes, would
never cafl them. They would be laid aside ; and, when
nothing should depend on the people's good wUl to
govemment, their rights would be trampled on ; they
would be treated with contempt.
Another reason why I think they would not be sat
isfied with such a partial repeal is, that their agree
ments not to import tifl the repeal takes place, include
the whole, which shows that they object to the whole,
and those agreements wUl continue bindmg on them if
the whole is not repealed.
" 3. Do you think the only effectual way of compos
ing the present differences is, to put the Americans
precisely in the situation they were in before the pas
sing of the late Stamp Act ? "
A. I think so.
"4. Your reasons for that opinion?"
A. Other raethods have been tried. They have
been rebuked in angry letters. Their petitions have
been refused or rejected by Pariiaraent. They have
been threatened with the punishraents of treason by
resolves of both Houses. Their AsserabUes have been
dissolved, and troops have been sent araong theni ; but
aU these ways have only exasperated their minds and
widened the breach. Their agreements to use no
more British manufactures have been strengthened ; and

264 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
these measures, mstead of composing differences, and
promoting a good correspondence, have almost annihi
lated your commerce with those countries, and greatiy
endanger the national peace and general welfare.
"6. If this last raethod is deemed by the legislature
and his Majesty's ministers to be repugnant to their
duty, as guardians of the just rights of the crown and
of theh feUow subjects, can you suggest any other way
of terminating these disputes, consistent with the ideas
of justice and propriety conceived by the King's sub
jects on both sides the Atlantic?"
A. I do not see how that method can be deemed
repugnant to the rights of the crown. If the Ameri
cans are put into their former situation, it raust be by
an act of Parliaraent ; in the passing of which by the
King, the rights of the crown are exercised, not in-
fi"inged. It is indifferent to the crown whether the aids
received frora Araerica are granted by ParUament here,
or by the AssembUes there, provided the quantum be
the same; and it is my opinion, that more wUl be gen
eraUy granted there voluntarUy, than can ever be ex
acted or coUected from thence by authority of Par
Uament. As to the rights of fellow subjects (I suppose you
mean the people of Britam), I cannot conceive how
those wiU be infringed by that method. They wUl
StiU enjoy the right of granting their own money, and
raay stiU, if it pleases thera, keep up their claim to the
right of granting ours ; a right they can never exercise
properly, for want of a sufficient knowledge of us, our
chcumstances and abiUties, (to say nothing of the Uttie
UkeUhood there is that we should ever subrait to it,)
therefore a right that can be of no good use to them ;
and we shaU continue to enjoy in fact the right of grantmg
our money, with the opinion now universally prevailing

STRAHAN'S QUERIES. 265
among us, that we are free subjects of the King, and
that feUow subjects of one part of his dorainions are not
sovereigns over fellow subjects in any other part.
If the subjects on the different sides of the Atiantic
have different and opposite ideas of "justice and pro
priety," no one "method" can possibly be consistent
with both. The best wifl be, to let each enjoy their
own opinions, without disturbing thera, when they do
not interfere with the coraraon good.
"6. And, if this raethod were actuaUy followed, do
you not think it would encourage the violent and fac
tious part of the colonists to aira at stifl farther con
cessions from the mother country?"
A. I do not think it would. There raay be a few
among them, that deserve the name of factious and vio
lent, as there are in all countries ; but these would have
Uttle influence, if the great majority of sober, reasonable
people were satisfied. If any colony should happen
to think that some of your regulations of trade are in
convenient to the general interest of the eraphe, or
prejudicial to them without being beneficial to you,
they wifl state these matters to Parliament in petitions
as heretofore ; but wUl, I believe, take no violent steps
to obtain what they may hope for in time from the
wisdom of government here. I know of nothing else
they can have in view ; the notion that prevaUs here
of their being desirous to set up a kingdom or com
monwealth of their own, is, to ray certain knowledge,
entirely groundless.
I therefore think, that, on a total repeal of afl duties,
laid expressly for the purpose of raising a revenue on
the people of America without their consent, the pres
ent uneasiness would subside ; the agreements not to
import would be dissolved ; and the commerce flourish
as heretofore ; and I am confirmed in this sentiraent by
VOL. IV. 34 w

266 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
afl the letters I have received frora Araerica, and by the
opinions of afl the sensible people ^ho have lately come
from thence, crown officers excepted.
I know, indeed, that the people of Boston are griev
ously offended by the quartering of troops among them,
as they think, contrary to law ; and are very angry with
the Board of Commissioners, who have calumniated
them to government ; but, as I suppose the withdraw
ing of those troops may be a consequence of reconcUi-
ating measures taking place ; and that the coraraission
also wiU be either dissolved, if found useless, or filled
with raore tem.perate and prudent men, if still deemed
useful and necessary ; I do not iraagine these particu
lars would prevent a return of the harmony so much
to be wished.*
" 7. If they are relieved in part only, what do you,
as a reasonable and dispassionate raan, and an equal
friend to both sides, iraagine wiU be the probable con
sequence ? "
A. I iraagine, that repealing the offensive duties in
part wiU answer no end to this country ; the cora
raerce will remain obstructed, and the Americans go
on with their scheraes of frugaUty, industry, and raanu-
• "The opposition [to Lord Rockingham's administration]," says Lord
Chesterfield, " are for taking vigorous, as they call them, but I call them
violent, measures ; not less than les dragonades ; and to have the tax
collected by the troops we have there. For my part, I never saw a fro
ward child mended by whipping; and I would not have the mother
become a step-mother." — Letter, No. 360.
"Is it a certain maxim," pleads Mr. Burke, "that the fewer causes
of dissatisfaction are left by government, the more the subject will be
inclined to resist and rebel .' " " I confess I do not feel the least alarm
from the discontents, which are to arise from putting people at their ease.
Nor do I apprehend the destruction of this empire, from giving, by an
act of free grace and indulgence, to two millions of my fellow citizens,
some share of those rights, upon which I have always been taught to
value myself." — Speeches in 1774 and 1775. — B. V.

STRAHAN'S QUERIES. 267
factures, to their own great advantage. How rauch
that raay tend to the prejudice of Britain, I cannot say ;
perhaps not so much as some apprehend, since she
may in time find new markets.* But I think, if the
union of the two countries continues to subsist, it wifl
not hurt the general interest ; for whatever wealth Brit
ain loses by the failing of its trade with the colonies,
America wiU gain ; and the crown wiU receive equal
aids from its subjects upon the whole, if not greater.
And now I have answered your questions as to what
may be, in my opinion, the consequences of this or that
supposed measure, I wiU go a Uttle farther, and teU
you what I fear is more Ukely to come to pass in reaUty.
I apprehend that the ministry, at least the American
part of it, being fully persuaded of the right of ParUa
ment, think it ought to be enforced, whatever may be
the consequences ; and at the same time do not be
Ueve, there is even now any abatement of the trade
between the two countries on account of these dis
putes ; or that, if there is, it is sraall, and cannot long
continue. They are assured by the crown officers in America,
that manufactures are impossible there; that the dis
contented are few, and persons of littie consequence ;
that alraost all the people of property and importance
are satisfied, and disposed to submit quietly to the tax
ing power of Parliament; and that, if the revenue
acts are continued, and those duties only that are
called anti-comraercial be repealed, and others perhaps
laid in stead; the power ere long wifl be patiently
subraitted to, and the agreeraents not to iraport be
broken, when they are found to produce no change of
measures here.
• Here is another mark of the author's candor and foresight. — B. V.

268 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
From these and simflar misinformations, which seem
to be credited, I think it Ukely that no thorough re
dress of grievances wUl be afforded to America this
session. This raay inflarae matters stUl raore in that
country ; farther rash raeasures there raay create more
resentment here, that may produce not merely iU-
advised dissolutions of their AssembUes, as last year,
but attempts to dissolve theh constitution ; * more
troops may be sent over, which wiU create more unea
siness ; to justify the measures of govemment, your
writers wiU revUe the Americans in your newspapers,
as they have already begun to do ; treating them as
miscreants, rogues, dastards, rebels, &c., to aUenate
the minds of the people here from thera, and which
wiU tend farther to diminish their affections to this
country. Possibly, too, some of their warm patriots
may be distracted enough to expose themselves by
some mad action to be sent for hither ; and govem
ment here be indiscreet enough to hang them, on the
act of Henry the EightLf
Mutual provocations wiU thus go on to complete die
separation ; and instead of that cordial affection that
once and so long existed, and that harmony, so suit
able to the circumstances, and so necessary to the hap
piness, strength, safety, and welfare of both countries ;
an implacable maUce and mutual hatred, such as we
now see subsisting between the Spaniards and Portu
guese, the Genoese and Corsicans, from the sane orig
inal misconduct in the superior govemraents, %viU take
place ; the saraeness of nation, the simUarity of religion,
* This was afterwards attempted by the British legislature, in the case
of the Massachusetts Bay province. — B. V.
t The Lords and Commons very prudently concurred in an address
for this purpose ; and the King graciously assured them of his com
pliance with their wishes. — B. V.

STRAHAN'S QUERIES. 269
manners, and language not in the least preventing m
our case, more than it did in theirs.
I hope, however, that this may afl prove false proph
ecy, and that you and I may Uve to see as sincere and
perfect a friendship estabUshed between our respec
tive countries, as has so many years subsisted be
tween Mr. Strahan and his truly affectionate old
friend, B. Franklin.

w*

STATE OP THE
CONSTITUTION OF THE COLONIES,
BY GOVERNOR POWNALL;
WITH REMARKS BY DR. PRANKLIN.

This State of the Constitution qf the Colonies was printed at
the close of 1769, and communicated to various persons, with a
view to prevent mischief from the misunderstandings between the
government of Great Britain and the people of America. I have
taken the liberty of ascribing it to Governor Pownall, as his name
could have been no secret at the time. Dr. Franklin's RemarJcs
(which from their early date are the more curious) are in manu
script ; and, from an observation in reply, signed T. P., appear to
have been communicated to Governor Pownall. — B. V. The
paragraphs within quotation marks are by Governor Pownall, and
the remarks immediately following each paragraph are by Dr.
Franklin. — Editor.

" 1. Wherever any EngUshmen go forth without
the realra, and raake settleraents in partibus exieris,
'These settlements as EngUsh settleraents, and these
inhabitants as EngUsh subjects, (carrying with thera the
laws of the land wherever they forra colonies, and re
ceiving his Majesty's protection by virtue of his royal
charter'* or commissions of govemment,) 'have and
enjoy afl liberties and iraraunities of free and natural
subjects, to afl intents, constructions, and purposes
whatsoever ; as if they and every of thera were born
within the realm; 'f and are bound by the lUie afle-
giance as every other subject of the realm."
" * Pratt and York." " f General words in all charters."

CONSTITUTION OF THE COLONIES. 271
Remark. The settiers of colonies in Araerica did
not carry with them the laws of the land, as being
bound by them wherever they should settie. They
left the realm to avoid the inconveniences and hard
ships they were under, where some of those laws were
in force ; particularly ecclesiastical laws, those for pay
raent of tithes, and others. Had it been understood
that they were to carry these laws with them, they
had better have stayed at home among their friends,
unexposed to the risk and toUs of a new settiement.
They carried with thera a right to such parts of laws
of the land, as they should judge advantageous or use
ful to thera ; a right to be free frora those they thought
hurtful ; and a right to make such others, as they
should think necessary, not infringing the general rights
of Englishmen ; and such new laws they were to form
as agreeable as might be to the laws of England.
" 2. Therefore, the comraon law of England, and afl
such statutes as were enacted and in force at the time
in which such settlers went forth, and such colonies
and plantations were estabUshed, (except as hereafter
excepted,) together with afl such alterations and amend
ments as the said common law may have received ; is
from time to time, and at afl times, the law of those
colonies and plantations."
Rem. So far as they have adopted it ; by express
laws or by practice.
" 3. Therefore afl statutes touching the right of the
succession, and settleraent of the crown, with the stat
utes of treason relating thereto ; * afl statutes regulating
" * That is, all statutes respecting the general relation between the
crown and the subject ; not such as respect any particular or peculiar estab
lishment of the realm of England. As, for instance ; by 13th and 14th
of Car. II. ch. 2, the supreme military power is declared to be in general,
without limitation, in his Majesty, and to have always been of right

272 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
or Uraitmg the general powers and authority of the
crown, and the exercise of jurisdiction thereof; afl stat
utes declaratory of the rights and liberty of the sub
ject ; do extend to all British subjects in the colonies
and plantations as of coramon right, and as if they and
every of them were born within the realm."
Rem. It is doubted whether any settiement of the
crown by ParUament takes place in the colonies, other
wise than by the consent of the AssembUes there.
Had the rebeUion in 1745 succeeded so far as to settie
the Stuart family again on the throne, by act of Par
Uament, I think the colonies would not have thought
theraselves bound by such an act. They would stUl
have adhered to the present faraUy, as long as they
could. [ Observation in Reply. They are bound to the Kmg
and his successors, and we know no succession but by
act of Parliaraent. — T. P.]
" 4. AU statutes enacted since the estabUshment of
colonies and plantations, do extend to and operate
within the said colonies and plantations, in which stat
utes the same are speciaUy named."
Rem. It is doubted whether any act of Parharaent
should of right operate in the colonies ; in fact, several
of thera have and do operate.

annexed to the ofiice of King of England, throughout all his Majesty's
realms and dominions ; yet tlie enacting clause, which respects only the
peculiar establishment of the militia of England, extends to the realm of
England only ; so that tlie supreme military power of the crown in aU
other his Majesty's realms and dominions stands, as io this statute, on
the basis of its general power, unlimited. However, the several legisla
tures of his Majesty's kingdom of Ireland, of his dominions of Virginia,
and of the several colonies and plantations in America, have, by laws to
which the King hath given his consent, operating within the precincts
of their several jurisdictions, limited the powers of it, and regulated tho
exercise thereof."

CONSTITUTION OF THE COLONIES. 273
"5. Statutes and customs which respect only the
special and local chcumstances of the reahn, do not
extend to and operate within said colonies and plan
tations, where no such special and local circumstances
are found. Thus the ecclesiastical and canon law, and
afl statutes respectmg tithes; the laws respectmg
courts baron and copyholds ; the game acts ; the
statutes respecting the poor, and settieraents ; and afl
other laws and statutes having special reference to
special and local chcumstances and estabUshments with
in the realra ; do not extend to and operate within
these settlements, in partibus exieris, where no such
chcumstances or estabUshments exist."
Rem. These laws have no force in America; not
merely because local circumstances differ ; but because
they have never been adopted, or brought over, by acts
of Assembly or by practice in the courts.
" 6. No statutes raade smce the estabhshraent of said
colonies and plantations (except as above described in
Articles 3 and 4) do extend to and operate within
said colonies and plantations.
" Query. Would any statute raade since the es
tablishraent of said colonies and plantations, which
statute iraported to annul and aboUsh the powers and
jurisdictions of their respective constitutions of govem
ment, where the same was not contrary to the laws,
or any other wise forfeited or abated ; or which statute
imported to take away, or did take away, the rights and
privUeges of the settiers as British subjects; would
such statute, as of right, extend to and operate withhi
said colonies and plantations?"
Answer. No. The ParUament has no such power.
The charters cannot be altered but by consent of both
parties, the King and the colonies.
" Upon the matters of fact, right, and law, as above
VOL. IV. 35

274 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
stated, it is, that the British subjects thus settled in
partibus exieris without the realm, so long as they are
excluded from an entire union with the realm, as parts
of and within the same, have a right to have (as they
have) and to be governed by (as they are) a distinct
entire civil government ; of the Uke powers, preemi
nences, and jurisdictions, (conformable to the like rights,
privUeges, iraraunities, franchises, and civU liberties,) as
are to be found and are estabUshed in the British
governraent, respecting the British subject within the
realra." Rem. Right.
" Hence also it is, that the rights of the subject, as
declared in the Petition of Rights, that the Umitation
of the prerogative by the Act for aboUshing the Star-
Chamber and for regulating the Privy Council, &c. ;
that the Habeas Corpus Act, the Statute of Frauds, the
BiU of Rights, do of coraraon right extend to, and are
in force within, said colonies and plantations."
Rem. Several of these rights are estabUshed by
special colony laws. If any are not yet so estabUshed,
the colonies have right to such laws ; and, the covenant
having been raade in the charters by the King, for
hhnsefl" and his successors, such laws ought to receive
the royal assent as of right.
"Hence it is, that the freeholders withhi the pre
cincts of these jurisdictions have (as of right they
ought to have) a share in the poioer of making those
laws which they are to be govemed by, by the right
which they have of sending their representatives, to act
for thera and to consent for them, in aU matters of legis
lation ; which representatives, when raet in general as
sembly, have, together with the crown, a right to per
form and do all the like acts respecting the matters,
things, and rights, within the precincts of their jurisdic-

CONSTITUTION OF THE COLONIES. 275
tion, as the Parhament hath respecting the realm and
British dommions.
" Hence also it is, that afl the executive offices, (frora
the supreme civfl magistrate, as locum tenens to the
King, down to that of constable and head-borough,)
must of right be estabUshed with afl and the hke
powers, neither more nor less than as defined by the
constitution and law, as in fact they are estabUshed.
" Hence it is, that the judicial offices and courts of
justice, estabUshed within the precincts of said jurisdic
tions, have, as they ought of right to have, afl those
jurisdictions and powers, 'as fufly and amply, to afl
mtents and purposes whatsoever, as the courts of
King's Bench, Commbn Pleas, and Exchequer, within
his Majesty's kmgdom of England have, and ought to
have ; and are empowered to give judgraent and award
execution thereupon.'*
" Hence it is, that by the possession, enjoyment, and
exercise of his Majesty's great seal, deUvered to his
Majesty's governor, there is estabUshed within the pre
cincts of the respective jurisdictions afl the same and
like powers of Chancery (except where by charters
speciafly excluded), as his Majesty's chancellor within
his Majesty's kingdora of England hath, and of right
ought to have, by deUvery of the great seal of Eng
land. And hence it is, that aU the hke rights, privi
leges, and powers follow the use, exercise, and apph
cation of the great seal of each colony and plantation
within the precincts of said jurisdiction ; as doth, and
ought of right to, foHow the use, exercise, and appUca
tion of the great seal.
" Hence also it is, that appeals in real actions, ' where
by the lands, tenements, and hereditaments of British

" * Law in New England, confirmed by the crown, October 22d, 1700."

276 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
subjects raay be drawn into question and disposed of,' *
do not lie, as of right and by law they ought not to he,
to the King in CouncU.
" Hence also it is, that there is not any law now in
being, whereby the subject within said colonies and
plantations can be reraoved f frora the jurisdiction to
which he is amenable in all his rights, and through
which his service and allegiance must be derived to
the crown, and from which no appeal Ues in criminal
causes ; so as that such subject may become amena
ble to a jurisdiction foreign to his natural and legal
resiancy, to which he raay be thereby transported, and
" * 16th Car. I. c. 10."
" f The case of the court erected by act of Parliament, llth and 12th
of William III. c. 7, (since the enacting of the Habeas Corpus Act) for
the trial of piracies, felonies, and robberies committed in or upon the
sea, or in any haven, river, creelc, or place where the Admiral has juris
diction, does no way affect this position ; nor doth the 14th section of the
said statute, directing that the commissioners, of whom such court con
sists, may issue their warrant for apprehending such pirates, &.c. in order
to their being tried in the colonies, or sent into England, any way mil
itate with the doctrine here laid down ; nor can it be applied as the case
of a jurisdiction actually existing, which supersedes the jurisdictions of
the courts in the colonies and plantations, and as what authorizes the
taking the accused of such piracies, &c. from those jurisdictions, and the
sending such, so taken, to England for trial. It cannot be applied as a
case similar and in point to the application of an act of Parliament
(passed in the 35th of Henry VIII. concerning the trial of treasons),
lately recommended, in order to the sending persons, accused of com
mitting crimes in the plantations, to England for trial ; because this act
of the llth and 12th of William III. c. 7, respects crimes committed in
places ' where the admiral has jurisdiction,' and cases to which the juris
diction of those provincial courts do not extend. In the case of treasons
committed within the jurisdiction of the colonies and plantations, there
are courts competent to try such crimes, and to give judgment thereupon,
where the trials of such are regulated by laws to which the King hath
given his consent ; from which there lies no appeal, and wherein the
King hath given power and instruction to his governor, as to execution or
respite of judgment. The said act of Henry VIII., which provides rem
edy for a case which supposes the want of due legal jurisdiction, cannot
be any way, or by any rule, apphed to a case where there is due legal
and competent jurisdiction."

CONSTITUTION OF THE COLONIES. 277
under which he may be brought to trial and receive
judgraent, contrary to the rights and privUeges of the
subject, as declared by the spirit and intent, and espe
cially by the 16th section of the Habeas Corpus Act.
And if the person of any subject within the said colo
nies and plantations should be seized or detained by
any power issuing frora any court, without the jurisdic
tion of the colony where he then had his legal resian
cy, it would becorae the duty of the courts of justice
within such colony (it is undoubtedly of their jurisdic
tion so to do) to issue the writ of Habeas Corpus.*
" Hence also it is, that in like raanner as ' the com
mand and disposition of the mUitia, and of all forces by
sea and land, and of aU forts and places of strength,
is, and by the laws of England ever was, the undoubt
ed right of his Majesty, and his royal predecessors,
kings and queens of England,' within aU his Majesty's
realms and dominions;'! in like manner as the su
prerae raUitary power and comraand (so far as the
constitution knows of and wiU justify its estabUshment)
" * In referring to an old act, made for the trial of treasons committed
out of the realm, by suoh persons as had no legal resiancy but within the
realm, and who were of the realm ; applying the purview of that statute
which was made to bring subjects of the realm, who had committed
treason out of the realm (where there was no criminal jurisdiction to
which they could be amenable), to trial within the realm, under that
criminal jarisdiction to which alone, by their legal resiancy and alle
giance, they were amenable ; applying this to the case of subjects
whose legal resiancy is witlwut the realm, and who are, by that resiancy
and their allegiance, amenable to a jurisdiction authorized and empow
ered to try and give judgment upon all capital offences whatsoever,
without appeal ; thus applying this statute so as to take up a proceeding,
for which there is no legal process, either by common or statute law as
now established, but in defiance of which there is a legal process estab.
lished by the Habeas Corpus Act, would be to disfranchise the subject
in America of those rights and liberties, which, by statute and common
law, he is now entitied to."
«t 13th and Mth Car. IL c. 2."
VOL. IV. X

278 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
is inseparably annexed to, and forms an essential part
of, the office of supreme civU magistrate, the office of
King ; in hke manner, in aU governraents under the
King, where the constituents are British subjects, and
of fuU and perfect right entitied to the British laws and
constitution, the suprerae military comraand within the
precincts of such jurisdictions raust be inseparably
annexed to the office of suprerae civU raagistrate, (his
Majesty's regent, vicegerent, lieutenant, or locum te
nens, in what form soever estabUshed;) so that the
King cannot, by any* commission of regency, by
any comraission or charter of governraent, separate or
withdraw the suprerae coraraand of the raUhary from
the office of suprerae civU raagistrate ; either by re
serving this coraraand in his own hands, to be exer
cised and executed independent of the civil power, or
by granting a distinct coraraission to any raUitary com
mander-in-chief, so as to be exercised and executed ;
but more especially not within such jurisdictions, where
such supreme raiUtary power (so far as the constitution
knows and wifl justify the same) is already annexed
and granted to the office of supreme civfl magistrate.
"And hence it is, that the King cannot erect or
estabUsh any law raartial or miUtary coraraand, by any
coraraission which raay supersede, and not be subject
to, the suprerae civfl magistrate, within the respective
" * If the King was to absent himself for a time from the realm, and
did as usual leave a regency in his place, (his locum tenens as supreme
civil magistrate,) could he authorize and commission any military com
mander-in-chief to command the militia forts and forces, independent of
such regency ? Could he do this in the colonies and plantations, where
the governor ia already, by comraission or charter, or both, under the
great seal, military commander-in-chief, as part of (and inseparably an
nexed to) the oflSce of supreme civil magistrate, his Majesty's locum
tenens within said jurisdiction.' If he could; then, while openly, by pa
tent according to law, ho appeared to establish a free British constitu
tion, he might by a fallacy establish a mihtary power and government."

CONSTITUTION OF THE COLONIES. 279
precincts of the civfl jurisdictions of said colonies and
plantations ; otherwise than in such raanner as the said
law raartial and miUtary comraissions are annexed or
subject to the suprerae civil jurisdiction within his.
Majesty's realms and dominions of Great Britain and
Ireland ; and hence it is, that the estabUshment and
exercise of such comraands and coramissions would
be illegal."*
Rem. The King has the command of aU military
force in his dominions ; but in every distinct state of
his dominions there should be the consent of the Par
Uament or Assembly, (the representative body,) to the
raising and keeping up such military force. He cannot
even raise troops and quarter them in another, without
the consent of that other. He cannot of right bring
troops raised in Ireland and quarter thera in Britain,
but with the consent of the Parliaraent of Britain ; nor
carry to Ireland, and quarter there, soldiers raised in
Britain, without the consent of the Irish Parliaraent;
unless in tirae of war and cases of extrerae exigency.
In 1756, when the Speaker went up to present the
raoney biUs, he said, araong other things, that " England
was capable of fightmg her own batties and defending
herself; and, although ever attached to your Majesty's
person, ever at ease under your just government, they
cannot forbear taking notice of some chcumstances in
* Governor Pownall accompanied this paper to Dr. Franklin with a
sort of prophetic remark. After stating that these theorems, and their
application to existing cases, were intended to remedy the prejudice,
indigestion, indecision, and errors then prevailing, either in opinions or
conduct, he adds ; " The very attention to the investigation may lead
to the discovery of some truths respecting the whole British empire, then
little thought of, and scarce even suspected ; and which perhaps it would
not be prudent at this time to mark and point out." The minister, how
ever, judged the discussion of dubio-us rights over growing states, a bet
ter policy than possession, discretion, and silence ; he turned civilian,
and lost an empire. — B. V.

280 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
the present situation of affairs, which nothing but the
confidence in your justice, could hinder from alarraing
their most serious apprehensions. Subsidies to foreign
princes, when already burdened with a debt scarce to
be borne, cannot but be severely felt. An army of
foreign troops, a thing unprecedented, unheard of, un
known, brought into England, cannot but alarra," &c.
&c. (See the Speech.)
N. B. These foreign troops were part of the King's
subjects, Hanoverians, and aU in his service ; which
is the sarae thing as 

OBSERVATIONS
ON PASSAGES IN
" AN INQUIRY INTO
THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE DISPUTES
BETWEEN
THE BRITISH COLONIES IN AMERICA
AKD
THEIR MOTHER COUNTRY.
lOKDON, 1769."*
Extract. " Supreme power and authority must not,
cannot, reside equafly everywhere throughout an era
phe." Observation. Writers on this subject often confuse
themselves with the idea, that afl the ICing's dorainions
make one state, which they do not, nor ever did since
the conquest. Our kings have ever had dorainions not
subject to the EngUsh ParUament. At first the prov
mces of France, of which Jersey and Guemsey re
main, always governed by their owh laws, appealing to
the King in CouncU only, and not to our courts or the
House of Lords. Scotiand was in the same situation
before the union. It had the same King, but a separ
ate Parharaent, and the ParUament of England had no
jurisdiction over it. Ireland the same in tmth, though
the British ParUament has usurped a dominion over it.
The colonies were originaUy settled in the idea of such
extrinsic dommions of the Khig, and of the King only.
Hanover is now such a dominion.
* See above, pp. 206, 211, 215. — Editor.
VOL. IV. 36 X*

282 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
"If each Assembly, m this case, were absolute, they
would, it is evident, form not one only, but so many
different governraents, perfectly independent of one
another." This is the only clear idea of their real present con
dition. Their only bond of union is the King.
" Now that of Great Britain being exactly the kind
of govemment I have been speaking of, the absolute
impossibflity of vesting the Araerican AssembUes with
an authority in all respects equal to that of the mother
country, without actuafly disraerabering the British em
pire, must naturally occur to every one."
It would not be disraerabering it, if it never was
united, as, in truth, it never yet has been. Breaking
the present union between England and Scotland
would be disraerabering the eraphe; but no such
union has yet been formed between Britain and the
colonies. "Where divers remote and distant countries are
united under one governraent, an equal and fair rep
resentation becoraes alraost irapracticable, or, at least,
extremely inconvenient."
Here appears the excellency of the invention of col
ony govemment, by separate, independent legislatures.
By this means, the remotest parts of a great empire
may be as wefl governed as the centre ; misrule, op
pressions of proconsuls, and discontents and rebeflions
thence arising, prevented. By this raeans the power
of a king raay be extended without inconvenience over
territories of any dimensions, how great soever. Amer
ica was thus happily governed in afl its different and
remote settieraents, by the crown and theh own As
sembUes, tifl the new politics took place, of goveming
it by one Parliamen , which have not succeeded and
never wifl.

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 283
" Should we carry our supposition much farther, the
inconveniences attending such long journeys would be
very great, although not interrupted by water."
Water, so far frora being an obstruction, is a raeans
of facilitating such asserabUes frora distant countries.
A voyage of three thousand railes by sea is more
easily performed, than a joumey of one thousand by
land. It is, in my opinion, by no raeans irapracticable to
bring representatives conveniently frora Araerica to
Britain ; but I think the present raode of lettmg thera
govern theraselves by their own AssembUes much pref
erable. They wUl always be better governed; and
the Pariiaraent has business enough here with its own
internal concerns.
" Whether they should not be aUowed such a form
of government, as wifl best secure to them their just
rights and natural liberties."
They have it already. Afl the difficulties have arisen
frora the British Pariiaraent atterapting to deprive thera
of it.
" Is it not, let rae ask, raost egregious folly so loudly
to conderan the Stuart family, who would have gov
emed England without a ParUament, when at the same
time we would, alraost aU of us, govern America upon
principles not at aU more justifiable ? "
Very just. Only that the arbhrary government of
a single person is more eUgible, than the arbitrary
govemment of a body of raen. A single raan may be
afraid or ashamed of doing injustice ; a body is never
either one or the other, if it is strong enough. It
cannot apprehend assassination, and by dividing the
shame araong thera, it is so Uttle apiece that no one
minds it.
" And consistently with our rights of sovereignty over
them."

284 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
I am surprised that a writer, who, in other respects,
appears often very reasonable, should talk of our sove
reignty over the colonies ! As if every individual in
England was a part of a sovereign over America ! The
King is the sovereign of aU.
The Americans think, that, whUe they can retain the
right of disposing of their own raoney, they shaU there
by secure aU their other rights. They have, therefore,
not yet disputed your other pretensions.
" That England has an imdeniable right to consider
America as a part of her dominions is a fact, I presume,
which can never be questioned."
You do, indeed, jjresume too much. America is not
part of the dommions of England, but of the King's
dominion. England is a dominion itself, and has no
dominions. " I wiU only observe at present, that it was England,
in some sense, which at first gave them being."
In some sense ! In what sense ? They were not
planted at her expense. As to defence, aU parts of
the King's dominion have rautually always contributed
to the defence one of the other. The raan in Araer
ica, who contributes sixpence towards an arraament
against the comraon enemy, contributes as rauch to the
common protection as if he lived in England.
They have always been ready to contribute, but by
voluntary grants according to their rights ; nor has any
Englishman yet had the effrontery to deny this truth.
" If they are at liberty to choose what suras to raise,
as well as the manner of raising them, it is scarcely to
be doubted, that their allowance wifl be found extreme
ly short. And it is evident they may, upon this footing,
absolutely refuse to pay any taxes at afl. And, if so,
it would be much better for England, if it were consist
ent with her safety, to disclaim afl further connexion

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 285
with them, than to continue her protection to them
whofly at her own expense."
Why is it to be doubted, that they wifl not grant
what they ought to grant? No complaint was ever
yet raade of their refusal or deficiency. He says, if
tliey are not without reserve obliged to coraply with
the requisitions of the ministry, they raay absolutely
refuse to pay any taxes at all. Let him apply this to
the British ParUament, and the reasoning wifl equally
prove, that the Coramons ought likewise to comply
absolutely with the requisitions of the rainistry. Yet
I have seen lately the rainistry demand four shUUngs
in the pound, and the ParUament grant but three. But
ParUaments and provincial Asserablies raay always be
safely trusted with this power of refusing or granting
in part. Ministers will often demand too much. But
AssembUes, being acquainted properly with the occa
sion, wifl always grant what is necessary. As protec
tion is, as I said before, mutual and equal in proportion
to every man's property, the colonies have been drawn
into afl British wars, and have annoyed the enemies of
Britain as much in proportion as any other subjects
of the King, equal in numbers and property. There
fore, this account has always balanced itself.
"It may further be observed, that their proceedings
are not quite so rapid and precipitate, as those of the
Privy CouncU; so that, should it be found necessary,
they wiU have more time to petition or raake remon
strances. For this privUege, the least which a subject
can enjoy, is not to be denied them."
Late experience has fully shown, that Araerican
petitions and reraonstrances are Uttle regarded in Brit
ain. The privUege of petkioning has been attempted
to be wrested from thera. The Assemblies' uniting
to petition has been called a flagitious attempt, in the

286 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
ministers' letters ; and such AsserabUes as would per
sist in it have therefore been dissolved.
It is a joke to talk thus to us, when we know that
ParUament, so far frora soleranly canvassing our peti
tions, have refused to receive or read thera.
" Our right of legislation over the Araericans, unrep
resented as they are, is the point in question. This
right is asserted by most, doubted of by some, and
wholly disclaimed by a few."
I ara one of those few ; but am persuaded the
time is not far distant, when the few wUl becorae the
many ; for. Magna est Veritas et prevalebit.
"But, to put the matter in a stronger Ught, the
question, I think, should be, whether we have a general
right of making slaves, or not."
A very proper state of the question.
"And the Americans may be treated with as much
equity, and even tendemess, by the ParUament of
Great Britain, as by their own Asserablies. This, at
least, is possible, though perhaps not very probable."
How can we Araericans beheve this, when we see
alraost half the nation paying but one shUling and six
pence in the pound, while others pay fuU four shUlings ;
and that there is not vhtue and honesty enough in
Pariiaraent to rectify this iniquity ? How can we sup
pose they wiU be just to us at such a distance, when
they are not just to one another? It is not, indeed,
as the author says, very probable. The unequal repre
sentation, too, that prevaUs in this kingdora, they are
so far frora having virtue enough to atterapt to remedy,
that they make use of it as an arguraent, why we
should have no representation at aU.
" To the equity of this raeasure, [an American rep
resentation in Parliaraent] the Araericans themselves,
I presume, could have nothing fairly to object."

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 287
Provided they had an equitable nuraber of represen
tatives allowed thera.
" As to those, indeed, which attend only the choos
ing a new Parliament, they may, perhaps, by proper
means, be considerably lessened, though not whoUy
removed." Let the old merabfers continue tifl superseded by
new ones from America.
" But, should the King at any time be disposed to
dissolve his ParUament, and convene a new one, as
hath been often done, only at a few weeks' notice,
this, upon the same footing, could not be effected."
By the above it raight.
"The raethod, however, of exaraining and deciding
contested elections, when necessary, raust undoubtedly
with respect to Araerica be set, in a great raeasure,
upon a different footing from that at present practised
in this kingdora."
Let the members be chosen by the American As
semblies, and disputed elections settied there, if any;
but there would be none.
" It is not in the least, at this time, probable, that an
American representation wifl ever be convened in Eng
land." I think so too ; where neither side approves a match,
it is not likely to be raade.
" They wifl be almost wholly excluded the benefit
of private acts, by reason of the iraraoderate expense."
They raay raake them at home. The expense of
private acts in England is shamefully great.
" The repahing of highways, raaking rivers navigable,
and cutting canals, with a variety of other things of the
Uke kind, wherein recourse raust be had to ParUament,
and yet the expense be suppUed chiefly, if not whoUy,
by private persons."

288 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Afl this may be done by their own laws at home.
" This mode of compromise raay as wefl be waved,
as it cannot be effected, it is evident, without iraraense
trouble." Very little.
" And if they should be divided in their sentiraents
upon it, and uncertain what measures to adopt and
foflow, it cannot be raatter of just wonder and censure."
Then leave it as it is. It was very well, tifl you at
tempted alterations and novelties.
" In respect to the article of levying taxes, it should
be deemed only a matter of grace, to be resumed at
pleasure." Your humble servant! We thank you for nothing.
Keep up your claim, and make the most of it.
" To be placed upon a level with the rest of the
subjects of the British crown, is the utmost the colonies
can chaUenge."
No. They may chaUenge aU that jvas promised
them by charters to encourage thera to settle there.
They have performed theh part of the contract, and
therefore have a right to expect a performance of the
other part. They have, by the risks and expenses
they have incurred, additional merit, and are therefore
to be considered as above the level of other subjects.
" We cannot otherwise raaintain our sovereignty over
it, unless our safety were actually at stake and abso
lutely requhed it."
I am quhe sick of our sovereignty. Your safety is
only endangered by quarreUing with the colonies ; not
by leaving them to the free enjoyment of their, own
Uberties. " They, who first migrated from England to settie hi
America, weU knew, I presume, they were stifl to con
tinue the subjects of the same govemment."

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 289
They wefl knew the contrary. They would never
have gone, if that had been the case. They fled from
your government, which oppressed them. If they car
ried your government with them, and of course your
laws, they had better have stayed and endured the
oppression at home, and not have added to it afl the
hardships of making a new settiement. They carried
not your laws ; but, had they carried your govemraent
and laws, they would now have been subject to spir
itual courts, tithes, church acts of Pariiaraent, game
acts, &c. &c., which they are not, and never were
since their being out of the realm.
"They knew; they were not to be independent."
They were to depend on the King only.
" For no one, I iraagine, would doubt, if their char
ters granted thera an inconsistent power, but that they
might be justly cancefled ; as no government can be
supposed to alienate prerogatives necessary to its safe
existence." Every government is supposed to be compos mentis
when it grants charters, and shafl not be aflowed to
plead insanity. If you break the charters, or violate
them, you dissolve afl ties between us.
"However, a right of sovereignty in this case we
may undeniably claim and vindicate ; though we raight
safely grant thera independency."
You raay claira it ; but you have not, never had,
nor, I trust, ever wifl have it. You, that is, the people
of England, cannot grant the Americans independency
of the King. It can never be, but with his consent
and theirs.
" Preserving our sovereignty over them, although at
the expense of sorae portion of their natural preroga
tives. They partly consist of our own plantations, and
partly of the conquests vve have raade from a nation
VOL. IV. 37 y

290 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
in whose hands it would have been dangerous for us
to have continued."
Our sovereignty ! Our sovereignty for ever. Of
their, not our plantations. The conquests may be yours
partly ; but they are partly conquests belonging to the
colonies, who jomed their forces with yours in equal
proportion. " Our very being, therefore, at least as a ft-ee people,
depends upon our retention of thera."
Take care, then, how you use them.
"They are now treated as chUdren. Their com
plaints are heard, and grievances redressed. But then
they would be treated rather as slaves, having the
swords of their masters perpetuaUy held at their
throats, if they should presume to offer half the in
dignities to the officers of the French crown, which
they have often with impunity done to those of the
British." The direct contrary is true ; they are not redressed ;
they are refused to be heard. Fresh oppressions and
insults are continually added. English swords are now
held at our throats. Every step is taking to convince
us, that there is no difference in government.
" Nay, they have AssembUes of theh own to redress
their grievances."
It is wefl they have.
" And, U" that should be done, what marks of sove
reignty wifl they aflow us to enjoy? What sort of
claim wUl they indulge us with ? Only, I suppose, a
mere titular one. And, if so, would they then expect,
that we should stiU protect them with our forces by sea
and land ? Or wiU they themselves maintain an army
and navy sufficient for that purpose ? This they cer
tainly at present are not able to do, if they were not
sheltered by the wings of Ijreat Britain."

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 291
What would you have ? Would you, the people of
England, be subjects and kings at the same time?
Don't be under any apprehensions for them. They
wifl find allies and friends somewhere ; and it wifl be
worth no one's while to make them enemies, or to
attack so poor a people, so numerous, and so wefl
armed. "Nor is there any reason to apprehend, that they
should be at afl formidable to England ; as the number
[of American representatives in ParUament] might be
properiy Umited, as those of Scotiand were at the
union." A proper limitation can only be this, that they shafl
from time to time have such a nuraber of additional
members, as are proportioned to their increasing share
of the taxes and numbers of the people.
"An exact estimate can scarcely be made of what
expense theh protection stands in to Great Britain."
The protection is rautual. They are always, in tirae
of war, at as rauch expense as would be necessary to
protect themselves ; first, by the troops and armed
ships they raise and equip; secondly, by the higher
price they pay for afl commodities, when drawn into
war by EngUsh European quarrels; thirdly, by ob
stmctions to the vent of theh produce by general
embargo. " They are justly chargeable with a certain portion
of the civfl Ust ; for this most indubitably constitutes
a part of government. How this article at present
is managed m England, is not now my business to
mquhe." I wifl tefl you how it is managed. The colonies
maintain their governors, who are the King?s repre
sentatives; and the King receives a quitrent from the
lands in most of the colomes.

292 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
"In many parts they are Uttle, perhaps, or nothing
at all, inferior in respect of theh conveniences to the
mother country."
As these differences cannot be known in ParUament
here, how can you proportion and vary your taxes of
America, so as to make them equal and fair? It
would be undertaking what you are not quaUfied for,
as well as doing what you have no right to do.
" Yet it must be granted, that they know best the
state of their own funds, and what taxes they can
afford to pay."
And yet you would be raeddling.
"It is very certain, that England is entitled to a
great deal of gratitude from her colonies."
The English are etemally harping on this string,
the great obligation the colonies are under for pro
tection from the French. I have shown, already, that
the defence was mutual. Every man in England, and
every raan's estate, have been defended from the
French; but is it sense to tefl any particular man,
"The nation has incurred a debt of one hundred and
forty-eight miflions to protect you and your estate, and
therefore you owe a great deal of gratitude to the na
tion ? " He wifl say, and justly, " I paid my propor
tion, and I am under no obligation." The colonies, as
I have shown in preceding notes, have always paid
more in various ways, and besides extending your
trade sometiraes (from which you exclude the colonies),
and for whims about the balance of power, and for
the sake of continental connexions in which they were
separately unconcerned. On the other hand, they
have, from their first settiement, had wars in America,
in which they never engaged you. The French have
never been their enemies, J|ut on your account.

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 293
" That the late war was chiefly kmdled and carried
on, on your account, can scarcely be denied."
It is denied.
" By the steps they seem to take to shake off our
sovereignty." Our sovereignty again! This writer, like the Ge
noese queens of Corsica, deems himself a sprig of
royalty !
"For, as soon as they are no longer dependent
upon England, they raay be assured they wifl irarae
diately becorae dependent upon France."
We are assured of the contrary. Weak states, that
are poor, are as safe as great ones, that ai-e rich.
They are not objects of envy. The trade, that may
be carried on with them, makes them objects of friend
ship. The sraaUest states raay have great aUies ; and
the rautual jealousies of great nations contribute to
their security.
"And whatever reasons there raight exist to dis
pose thera in our favor in preference to the French ;
yet, how far these would operate, no one can pretend
to say."
Then be careful not to use thera iU. It is a better
reason for using thera kindly. That alone can retain
their fi-iendship. Your sovereignty wUl be of no use, if
the people hate you. Keeping them in obedience wiU
cost you more than your profits frora thera araount to.
"It is not, indeed, for their jealousy of their rights
and liberties, but for their riotous and seditious man
ner of asserting them."
Do you EngUshmen then pretend to censure the
colonies for riots ? Look at home ! I have seen,
within a yeai', riots in the country about corn ; riots
about elections ; riots about work -houses ; riots of col
liers ; riots of weavers ; riots of coal-heavers ; riots
Y*

294 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
of sawyers ; riots of saUors ; riots of WUkesites ; riots
of government chairmen ; riots of sraugglere, in which
custora-house officers and exciseraen have been raur
dered, the King's arraed vessels and troops fired at,
&c. In America, if one mob rises, and breaks a few
windows, or tars and feathers a single rascally inforra
er, it is cafled rebellion; troops and fleets raust be
sent, and military execution talked of as the decentest
thmg in the world. Here, mdeed, one would think
riots part of the mode of government.
"And if she had not thought proper to centre al
most aU her care, as she has done, upon making the
late peace, in procuring thera a safe estabhshraent, and
to sacrifice to it, in a manner, every other object, she
might, at least, expect from them a more decent and
dutiful demeanour."
In the last war, America kept up twenty-five thou
sand men at her own cost for five years, and spent
many miUions. Her troops were in aU batties, afl
service. Thousands of her youth fefl a sacrifice. The
crown gained an iraraense extent of territory, and a
great number of new subjects. Britain gained a new
market for her manufactures, and recovered and se
cured the old one araong the Indians, which the French
had interrupted and annihUated. But what did the
Araericans gain except that safe establishment, which
they are now so taunted with ? Lands were divided
araong none of thera. The very fishery, which they
fought to obtain, they are now restrained in. The
plunder of the Havana was not for them. And this
very safe establishment they might as weU have had by
treaty with the French, their neighbours, who would
probably have been easily raade and continued theh
friends, if it had not been for their connexion with
Britain.

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 295
" And it seldom happens, that any one fares the bet-
t^ for his insolence."
Then don't be insolent with your power.
"For should matters on aU sides, as I hope they
never will, be carried to extremities, I cannot take
upon me to say but England raay yet produce both
a ministry and ParUament, that would rather share
them once raore with the French, than totaUy reUn
quish her present pretensions."
We have been often threatened with this wise
raeasure of returning Canada to France. Do it when
you please. Had the French power, which you were
five years subduing with twenty-five thousand regu
lars, and twenty-five thousand of us to help you, con
tinued at our backs ready to support and assist us,
whenever we raight think proper to resist your oppres
sions, you would never have thought of a Starap Act
for us ; you would not have dared to use us as you
have done. If it be so poUtic a raeasure to have en
emies at hand, (as the notion is) to keep your subjects
in obedience, then give part of Ireland to the French
to plant. Plant another French colony in the High
lands, to keep rebeUious Scotland in order. Plant
another on Tower HUI, to restrain your own mobs.
There never was a notion more ridiculous. Don't you
see the advantage you may have, if you preserve our
connexion? The fifty thousand raen and the fleet
eraployed in Araerica, during the last war, are now so
much strength at liberty to be eraployed elsewhere.
" The legislative power of every kingdom or erapire
should centre in one suprerae assembly."
Distinguish here what may be convenient from what
is fact. Before the union it was thought convenient,
and long wished for, that the two kingdoras should
join in one Parliaraent. But, tifl that union was formed,

296 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
the fact was, that their Parliaments were distinct, and
the British Parliaraent would not raake laws for Scot
land. The same fact now subsists in Araerica. The
ParUaments and states are distinct ; but the British
Parharaent has taken advantage of our rainority, and
usurped powers not belonging to it.
" It would not be araiss, perhaps, to ask thera what
bounds they would be content to fix to their clairas
and demands upon us, as hitherto they seem to be at
a loss where to stop."
They only desire, that you would leave thera where
you found thera ; repeal aU your taxing laws, and
retum to requisitions when you would have aids from
them. "I raust freely own, that whatever opinion I raay
have of their right, I certainly have not quite as favor
able one of their conduct, which often is neither con
sistent nor prudent."
They think the sarae of yours.
"If they are really wilUng we should exercise any
acts of sovereignty among them at aU, the iraposition
they have so riotously resisted might not improperly,
perhaps, have been aUowed better quarter."
Leave the King, who alone is the sovereign, to ex
ercise his acts of sovereignty in appointing theh gov
emors, and in approving or disapproving their laws.
But do you leave it to their choice to trade elsewhere
for coraraodities ? To go to another shop ? No ! you
say they shaU buy of you, or nobody.
"Nor should mere custom, nor any charter or law
in being, be allowed any great weight in the decision
of this point."
The charters are sacred. Violate them, and then
the present bond of union (the kingly power over us)
wUl be broken.

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 297
"The Americans may insist upon the same rights,
privileges, and exeraptions, as are aUowed the Irish,
because of the simUarity, if not identity, of their con
nexions with us." .
Surely the Americans deserve a little more. They
never put you to the trouble and expense of conquer
ing them, as Ireland has done three tiraes over. They
never were in rebelUon. I speak now of the native
Irish. The EngUsh famUies settied there lost no rights
by theh merit in conquermg that country.
" But if any distinction were to be raade, raost cer
tainly, of the two nations, the Araericans are least
entitied to any lenity on that score."
I wonder much at this "most certainly."
" The terms she may not think safe and proper to
grant the Irish, she raay judge fuU as dangerous and
imprudent to grant the Araericans."
It is very iraprudent to deprive Araerica of any of
her privUeges. If her commerce and friendship are of
any importance to you, they are to be had on no other
terms, than leaving her in the fuU enjoyment of her
rights. " Long before we could send among them any con
siderable nuraber of forces, they might do a great deal
of mischief, if not actually overturn aU order and gov
ernment." They wifl take care to preserve order and govem
ment for theh own sakes.
"Several other reasons might be offered, why the
same measures, in regard to both nations, raight not
be altogether alike convenient and advisable."
Where you cannot so conveniently use force, there
you should endeavour to secure affection.
VOL. IV. 38

OBSERVATIONS on
PASSAGES IN A PAMPHLET,
ENTITLED
"THE TRUE CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS
FOR
PUTTING AN END TO THE DISPUTES
BETWEEN
GREAT BRITAIN ANP THE AMERICAN COLONIES.
lONDON, 1769."*
Extract. "Every British subject raust acknowl
edge, that the directive influence of the British state
remains with the British legislature, who are the only
proper judges of what concerns the general welfare of
the whole empire."
Observation. The British state is only the Island of
Great Britain ; the British legislature are undoubtedly
the only proper judges of what concerns the welfare
of that state ; but the Irish legislature are the proper
judges of what concerns the Irish state, and the Amer
ican legislatures of what concems the Araerican states
respectively. By "the whole erapire" does this writer
raean afl the King's dorainions ? If so, the British Par
Uaments should also govern the Isles of Jersey and
Guemsey, and Hanover ; but this is not so.
" But the land tax, which I have proposed, is in its
very nature unoppressive, and is equally wefl suited to
the poorest as to the richest province of the British
erapire." • See above, 206, 211, 215, 281.

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 299
This writer seems ignorant, that every colony has its
own civfl and miUtary estabUshment to provide for;
new roads and bridges to make; churches and aU
public edifices to erect ; and would he separately tax
thera, raoreover, with a tax on lands equal to what is
paid in Britain?
" The colonists must possess a luxuriant abundance
to be able to double their inhabitants m so short a
space." How does this appear ? Is not a raere corapetence
sufficient for this purpose? If America wiU consent
to pay thus its proportion of British taxes, wUl Britain
pay out of the whole aU the American taxes ? Or is
America to pay both?
"The produce of the planters purchases for them
what others buy with gold and sUver; but even sev
eral of the colonists of the rank of good livers have
often been seen to pay the price of a negro with gold.
As instances of Virginian luxury, I have been assured,
that there are few famiUes there without some plate;
and that at sorae entertainraents the attendants have
appeared alraost as numerous as the guests."
Was not the gold first purchased by the produce of
his land, obtained by hard labor? Does gold drop
from the clouds in Vhginia into the laps of the indo
lent? Theh very purchasing plate and other super
fluities from England is one raeans of disabUng them
frora paying taxes to England. Would you have it
both ii\ raeal and raalt? It has been a great fofly in
the Araericans to entertain EngUsh gentiemen whh a
splendid hospitality ifl suited to their circumstances ; by
which they excited no other grateful sentiments in their
guests, than that of a desire to tax the landlord.
"It cannot be deeraed exorbitant, considering their
traffic with the French sugar islands, as wefl as with

300 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
our own ; and this wUl make the whole of their impor
tations four railUons per annum."
This is arguing the riches of a people from theh
extravagance ; the very thing that keeps them poor.
" The inhabitants of Great Britain pay abbve thh-
teen miUions sterling every year, including tumpikes
and the poor's rates, two articles which the colonists
are exempt frora."
A turnpike tax is no burden, as the tumpike gives
raore benefit than it takes. And ought the rich m
Britain, who have raade such numbers of poor by
engrossing aU the sraafl divisions of land, and who
keep the laborers and working people poor by Umiting
their wages, — ought those gentry to complain of the
burden of raaintaining the poor that have worked for
thera at unreasonably low rates afl their Uves? As
wefl might the planter complain of his being obliged
to maintain his poor negroes, when they grow old,
are sick, or lame, and unable to provide for themselves.
"For though afl pay by the same law, yet none can
be required to pay beyond his abUity ; and the fund
from whence the tax is raised, is, in the colonies that
are least inhabited, just as able to bear the burden
iraposed, as in the raost populous county of Great
Britain." The colonies are alraost always considered by these
ignorant, flimsy writers, as unwUUng to contribute to
the general exigencies of the state ; which is not true.
They are always wilUng, but wiU have the grantmg of
their own money themselves ; in which they are right
for various reasons.
"They would be content to take land frora us gra
tuitously." What land have they ever taken frora you? The
lands did not belong to the crown, but to the Indians,

POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 301
of whom the colonists either purchased them at their
own expense, or conquered them without assistance
from Britain. The engageraent to settie the Araerican
lands, and the expense of settlement, are more than
equivalent for what was of no value to Britain without
a first settieraent.
" The rental of the lands in Great Britain and Ire
land araounts to about twenty-two railUons; but the
rental of the same extent of lands in Araerica is not
probably one raUlion sterling."
What signifies extent of unsettied lands, that pro
duce nothing?
" I beg to know if the returns of any traffic on earth
ever produced so many per cent, as the retums of
agriculture in a fertUe soU and favorable climate."
How Uttle this politician knows of agriculture ! Is
there any county where ten bushels of grain are gen
eraUy got in for one sown ? And are aU the charges
and advances for labor to be nothing ? No farmer of
America in fact raakes five per cent of his raoney.
His profit is only being paid for his own labor, and
that of his chUdren. The opulence of one Enghsh
or Dutch raerchant would raake the opulence of a
hundred Araerican farraers.
" It raay, I think, be safely concluded, that the riches
of the colonists would not increase so fast, were the
inhabitants to leave off enlarging their settieraents and
plantations, and run eagerly upon raanufactures."
There is no necessity of leaving their plantations ; \
they can manufacture in their faraiUes at spare times.
Depend upon it, the Araericans are not so irapolitic, as j
to neglect settleraents for unprofitable raanufactures; but \
some manufactures may be raore advantageous to sorae '
persons, than the cultivation of land, and these wUl pros- |
ecute such raanufactures notwithstanding your oratory.
VOL. IV. Z

SETTLEMENT ON THE OHIO RIVER.

This paper relates to what has been commonly called Walpole's
Grant, heretofore mentioned, (p. 233.) A petition had been pre
sented to the King in Council by a company of gentlemen, at the
head of whom was Thomas Waipoie, for a tract of land on the
Ohio River, where it was proposed to form a new settiement.
The petition met with delay in the Council, and was at length
referred to the Board of Trade. The following " Report of the
Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations " on the subject
was drawn up by Lord Hillsborough, at that time president of ^e
Board of Trade, who strenuously opposed the petition. Dr. Frank
lin answered that Report, and in so able and convincing a manner,
that, when the subject was again brought before the Council,
July 1st, 1772, and his answer was read, the petition was granted.
Alluding to this circumstance, in a letter to Joseph Galloway,
dated August 22d, 1772, Dr. Franklin said ; "Lord Hillsborough,
mortified by the Committee of Council's approbation of our grant,
in opposition to his Report, has resigned. I believe when he offered
to do so he had such an opinion of his importance, that he did not
think it would be accepted ; and that it would be thought prudent
rather to set our grant aside than to part with him. His colleagues
in the ministry were all glad to get rid of him, and perhaps for this
reason joined more readily in giving him that mortification. Lord
Dartmouth succeeds him, who has much more favorable disposi
tions towards the colonies."
Again, in a letter to his son, dated July 14th, 1773, he wrote ;
" Mr. Todd, who has some attachment to Lord Hillsborough, told
me, as a secret, that Lord Hillsborough was much chagrined at
being out of place, and could never forgive me for writing that
pamphlet against his Report about the Ohio. Of all the men I ever
met with, he is surely the most unequal in his treatment of people,
the most insincere, and the most wrongheaded. Witness, besides
his various behaviour to me, his duplicity in encouraging us to ask
for more land. 'Ash for enough to make a province,' (when we at
first asked only for two millions five hundred thousand acres,) were
his words, pretending to befriend our application ; then doing every

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 303
thing to defeat it, and reconciling the first to the last by saying to
a friend, that he meant to defeat it from the beginning, and that
his putting us upon asking so much was with that very view, sup
posing it too much to be granted. Thus, by the way, his mortifica
tion becomes double. He has served us by the very means he meant
to destroy us, and tripped up his own heels into the bargain."
Lord Hillsborough's Report and Dr, Franklin's Answer were
published, in the year 1797, in the second volume of a work, en
titled " Biographical, Literary, and Political Anecdotes of Several
of the most eminent Persons of the present Age." The author of
that work remarks on the subject as follows.
" Lord Hillsborough was so much offended by the decision of the
Privy Council, that he resigned upon it. He resigned for that
reason only. He had conceived an idea, and was forraing the plan,
of a boundary line to be drawn from the Hudson River to the
Mississippi, and thereby confining the British colonies between
that line and the ocean, similar to the scheme of the French after
the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, which brought on the war of 1756.
His favorite project being thus -defeated, he quitted the ministry.
Dr. Franklin's answer to the Report of the Board of Trade was
intended to have been published ; but, Lord Hillsborough resigning,
Dr. F'ranklin stopped the sale on the morning of the publication,
when not above J?»e copies had been disposed of." — Editor.

REPORT

Of the Lords Coramissioners for Trade and Planta
tions, on the Petition of the Honorable Thomas Wal
pole and his Associates, for a Grant of Lands on the
River Ohio, m North America.
"My Lords,
" Pursuant to your Lordships' order of the 25th May,
1770, we have taken into our consideration the hum
ble memorial of the Honorable Thoraas Walpole, Ben
jamin Franklin, John Sargent, and Samuel Wharton, Es
quires, in behalf of theraselves and their associates, set
ting forth araong other things, ' That they presented a

304 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
petition to his Majesty in Council, for a grant of lands in
Araerica (parcel of the lands, purchased by government
of the Indians) in consideration of a price to be paid in
purchase of the same ; that, in pursuance of a sugges
tion which arose when the said petition was under
consideration of the Lords Coraraissioners for Trade
and Plantations, the raeraoriaUsts presented a petition
to the Lords Coraraissioners of the Treasury, propos
ing to purchase a larger tract of land on the River Ohio
in America, sufficient for a separate government; where
upon theh Lordships were pleased to acquaint the me
morialists, they had no objection to accepting the pro
posals made by them, with respect to the purchase
raoney and quitrent to be paid for the said tract of
land, if it should be thought advisable by those de
partraents of govemraent, to whom it belonged to judge
of the propriety of the grant, both in point of policy
and justice, that the grant should be made; in con
sequence whereof the memorialists hurably renew theh
application, that a grant of said lands raay be raade to
them," reserving therein to aU persons theh just and
legal rights to any parts or parcels of said lands, which
may be comprehended within the tract prayed for by
the memoriahsts ; ' whereupon we beg leave to report
to your Lordships,
"I. That, according to the description of the tract
of land prayed for by the memoriahsts, which descrip
tion is annexed to their memorial, it appears to us to
contain part of the dominion of Virginia, to the south
of the River Ohio, and to extend several degrees of
longitude westward from the western ridge of the Ap
palachian Mountains, as wifl raore fufly appear to your
Lordships frora the annexed sketch of the said tract,
which we have since caused to be deUneated with as
much exactness as possible, and herewith submit to

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 305
your Lordships, to the end that your Lordships may
judge, with the greater precision, of the situation of the
lands prayed for in the raeraorial.
" II. From this sketch your Lordships wUl observe,
that a very considerable part of the lands prayed for
Ues beyond the line, which has, in consequence of his
Majesty's orders for that purpose, been settled by trea
ty, as weU with the tribes of the Six Nations and their
confederates, as with the Cherokee Indians, as the
boundary line between his Majesty's territories and
their hunting grounds ; and as the faith of the crown
is pledged in the raost solemn raanner, both to the Six
Nations and to the Cherokees, that, notwithstanding
the forraer of these nations had ceded the property in
the lands to his Majesty, yet no settlement shaU be
raade beyond that lme, it is our duty to report to your
Lordships our opinion, that it would on that account
be highly iraproper to coraply with the request of the
memorial, so far as it includes any lands beyond the
said Une.
" It reraains, therefore, that we report to your Lord
ships our opinion, how far it raay consist with good
policy and with justice, that his Majesty should coraply
with that part of the raeraorial which relates to those
lands, which are situated to the east of that line, and
are part of the dorainion of Virginia.
" III. And, first, with regard to the pohcy, we take
leave to reraind your Lordships of that principle, which
was adopted by this Board, and approved and con
firraed by his Majesty, immediately after the treaty of
Paris, viz. the confining the western extent of settle
ments to such a distance from the seacoast, as that
those settleraents should Ue within the reach of ihe
trade and commerce of ihis kingdom, upon which the
strength and riches of it depend, and also of the
VOL. IV. 39 z*

306 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
exercise of that authority and jurisdiction, which was
conceived to be necessary for the preservation of the
colonies in a due subordination to, and dependence
upon, the mother country. And these we apprehend
to have been two caphal objects of his Majesty's proc
lamation of the 7th of October, 1763, by which his
Majesty declares it to be his royal wUl and pleasure,
to reserve under his sovereignty, protection, and do
minion, for the use of the Indians, all the lands not
included within the three new governments, the limits
of which are described therein, as also afl the lands and
territories lying to the westward of the sources of the
rivers, which fall into the sea from the west and north
west ; and by which aU persons are forbid to make any
purchases or settlements whatever, or to take posses
sion of any of the lands above reserved, without special
license for that purpose.
" IV. It is true, indeed, that, partly from want of
precision in describing the Une intended to be marked
out by the proclaraation of 1763, and partly from a
consideration of justice in regard to legal titles to lands,
which had been settled beyond that line, it has been
since thought fit to enter into engagements with the
Indians, for fixing a raore precise and determinate
boundary between his Majesty's territories and theh
hunting grounds.
" V. By this boundary, so far as regards the case
now in question, your Lordships wiU observe, that the
hunting grounds of the Indians are reduced within nar
rower Umits, than were specified by the proclamation
of 1763. We beg leave, however, to submit to your
Lordships, that the same principles of policy, in refer
ence to settieraents at so great a distance frora the
seacoast as to be out of the reach of aU advantageous
intercourse with this kingdora, continue to exist in theh

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 307
fufl force and spirit ; and, though various propositions for
erecting new colonies in the interior parts of America
have been, in consequence of this extension of the
boundary line, submitted to the consideration of gov
ernraent, (particularly in that part of the country wherein
are situated the lands now prayed for, with a view to
that object,) yet the dangers and disadvantages of com
plying with such proposals have been so obvious, as to
defeat every attempt raade for carrying them into ex
ecution. " VI. Many objections, besides those which we have
aheady stated, occur to us to propositions of this kind ;
but as every argument on this subject is coflected to
gether, with great force and precision, in a representa
tion made to his Majesty by the Coraraissioners for
Trade and Plantations in March, 1768, we beg leave
to state thera to your Lordships in theh words.
" In that representation they deliver theh opinion
upon a proposition for settling new colonies in the in
terior country as foUows, viz.
" ' The proposition of forming inland colonies in Araer
ica is, we hurably conceive, entirely new. It adopts
principles in respect to American settieraents, different
from what has hitherto been the policy of this kingdora,
and leads to a systera, which, if pursued through aU
its consequences, is, in the present state of that coun
try, of the greatest importance.
" ' The great object of colonizing upon the continent
of North America has been to improve and extend the
commerce, navigation, and raanufactures of this king
dom, upon which its strength and security depend.
"'1. By promoting the advantageous fishery carried
on upon the northem coast.
" ' 2. By encouraging the growth and culture of na
val stores, and of raw raaterials, to be transported

308 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
hither in exchange for perfect raanufactures and other
raerchandise. "'3. By securing a supply of luraber, provisions,
and other necessaries, for the support of our estabUsh
ments in the Araerican islands.
" ' In order to answer these salutary purposes it has
been the pohcy of this kingdom to confine her settle
ments, as rauch as possible to the seacoast, and not
to extend them to places inaccessible to shipping, and
consequently more out of the reach of commerce ; a
plan, which, at the same time that it secured the at
tainment of these coraraercial objects, had the further
poUtical advantage of guarding against all interfermg
of foreign powers, and of enabUng this kingdom to
keep up a superior naval force in those seas, by the
actual possession of such rivers and harbours, as were
proper stations for fleets in tirae of war.
" ' Such, raay it please your Majesty, have been the
considerations inducing that plan of poUcy hitherto pur
sued in the settleraent of your Majesty's Araerican
colonies, with which the private interest and sagacity
of the settiers cooperated frora the first estabUshraents
formed upon that continent. It was upon these princi
ples, and with these views, that governraent undertook
the settiing of Nova Scotia in 1749 ; and it was from
a view of the advantages represented to arise from it
in these different articles, that it was so liberally sup
ported by the aid of Parliaraent.
" ' The sarae motives, though operating in a less de
gree, and applying to fewer objects, did, as we humbly
conceive, induce the forraing the colonies of Georgia,
East Florida, and West Florida, to the south, and the
making those provincial arrangements in the proclama
tion of 1763, by which the interior country was left to
the possession of the Indians.

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 309
" ' Having thus briefly stated what has been the poU
cy of this kingdom in respect to colonizing in America,
it may be necessary to take a cursory view of what has
been the effect of it in those colonies, where there has
been sufficient time for that effect to discover hself;
because, if it shafl appear from the present state of
these settlements, and the progress they have raade,
that they are Ukely to produce the advantages above
stated, it wiU, we humbly apprehend, be a very strong
argument against forming settlements in the interior
country ; more especially, when every advantage, de
rived from an estabUshed government, would naturally
tend to draw the stream of population ; fertiUty of sofl
and temperature of climate offering superior incitements
to settlers, who, exposed to few hardships, and strug
gling with few difficulties, could, with Uttle labor, earn
an abundance for their own wants, but without a pos
sibiUty of supplying ours with any considerable quanti
ties. Nor would these inducements be confined in
their operation to foreign emigrants, determining theh
choice where to settle, but would act most powerfully
upon the inhabitants of the northern and southem lat
itudes of your Majesty's American dominions ; who,
ever suffering under the opposke extremes of heat and
cold, would be equally tempted by a moderate cliraate
to abandon latitudes pecuUarly adapted to the produc
tion of those things, which are by nature denied to us ;
and for the whole of which we should, without their
assistance, stand indebted to, and dependent upon,
other countries.
"'It is wefl known, that, antecedent to the year
1749, all that part of the seacoast of the British empire
in America, which extends northeast frora the province
of Maine to Canceau in Nova Scotia, and from thence
north to the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, lay

310 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
waste and neglected; though naturally affording, or
capable by art of producing, every species of naval
stores ; the seas abounding with whale, cod, and other
valuable fish, and having many great rivers, bays, and
harbours, fit for the reception of ships of war. Thus
circurastanced, a consideration of the great coraraercial
advantages, which would follow frora securing the pos
session of this country, corabined with the evidence of
the value set upon it by our enemies, who, during the
war which terrainated at that period, had, at an iraraense
expense, atterapted to wrest it from us, induced that
plan, for the settiement of Nova Scotia, to which we
have before referred; and which, being prosecuted
with vigor, though at a very large expense to this
kingdora, secured the possession of that province, and
forraed those establishraents which contributed so great
ly to facUitate and proraote the success of your Maj
esty's arras in the late war.
" ' The estabhshraent of govemment in this part of
Araerica, having opened to the view and information
of your Majesty's subjects in other colonies the great
commercial advantages to be derived from it, induced
a zeal for migration ; and associations were formed for
taking up lands, and raaking settieraents, in this prov
ince, by principal persons residing in these colonies.
" ' In consequence of these associations, upwards of
ten thousand souls have passed from those colonies
into Nova Scotia, who have either engaged in the fish
eries, or becorae exporters of lumber and provisions to
the West Indies. And further settlements, to the ex
tent of twenty-one townships, of one hundred thousand
acres each, have been engaged to be raade there, by
many of the principal persons in Pennsylvania, whose
names and association for that purpose now lie before
your Majesty in Council.

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 311
" ' The governraent of Massachusetts Bay, as weU as
the proprietors of large tracts to the eastward of the
province of Maine, excked by the success of these
settlements, are giving every encouragement to the like
settieraents in that valuable country lying between thera
and Nova Scotia ; and the proprietors of the twelve
townships lately laid out there, by the Massachusetts
government, now solicit your Majesty for a confirmation
of their titie.
" ' Such, may it please your Majesty, is the present
state of the progress raaking in the settleraent of the
northern parts of the seacoasts of North America, in
consequence of what appears to have been the poUcy
adopted by this kingdora ; and many persons of rank
and substance here are proceeding to carry into execu
tion the plan, which your Majesty (pursuing the sarae
principles of coraraercial poUcy) has approved, for the
settlement of the Islands of St. John and Cape Breton,
and of the new-estabUshed colonies to the south ; and,
therefore, as we are fully convinced, that the encour
aging settlements upon the seacoast of North America
is founded in the true principles of commercial poUcy ;
and as we find, upon examination, that the happy ef
fects of that policy are now beginning to open them
selves, in the estabUshment of those branches of com
merce, culture, and navigation, upon which the strength,
wealth, and security of this kingdom depend ; we can
not be of opinion, that it would in any view be ad
visable to divert your Majesty's subjects in America,
from the pursuit of those important objects, by adopting
measures of a new policy, at an expense to this king
dora, which in its present state it is unable to bear.
" ' This, raay it please your Majesty, being the light
in which we view the proposhion of colonizing in the
interior country, considered as a general principle of

312 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
policy ; we shall, in the next place, proceed to examme
the several arguraents urged in support of the particu
lar estabUshments now recoraraended.
"'These arguments appear to us reducible to the
foUowing general propositions, viz.
" ' First, That such colonies wiU promote population,
and increase the deraands for, and consuraptien of,
British raanufactures.
" ' Secondly, That they wUl secure the fur trade,
and prevent an Ulicit trade, or interfering of French or
Spaniards with the Indians.
" ' Thirdly, That they wiU be a defence and protec
tion to the old colonies against the Indians.
" ' Fourthly, That they wifl contribute to lessen the
present heavy expense of supplying provisions to the
distant forts and garrisons.
" ' Lastly, That they are necessary in respect to the
inhabitants already residing in those places, where they
are proposed to be established, who require some form
of civfl governraent.
" ' After what we have aheady stated, with respect
to the poUcy of encouraging colonies in the interior
country as a general principle, we trust it wifl not be
necessary to enter into an araple discussion of the ar
guments brought to support the foregoing propositions.
" ' We admit, as an undeniable principle of true pol
icy, that, with a view to prevent raanufactures, it is
necessary and proper to open an extent of territory
for colonization proportioned to the increase of people,
as a large nuraber of inhabitants cooped up in narrow
Umits, without a sufficiency of land for produce, would
be compelled to convert their attention and industry to
manufactures ; but we subrait whether the encourage
ment given to the settiement of the colonies upon the
seacoast, and the effect which such encouragement has

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 313
had, have not already effectually provided for this ob
ject, as wefl as for increasing the deraand for, and con
suraptien of, British manufactures, an advantage which,
in our humble opinion, would not be proraoted by these
new colonies, which, being proposed to be estabhshed
at the distance of above fifteen hundred raUes from the
sea, and in places which, upon the fuflest evidence, are
found to be utterly inaccessible to shipping, wfll, from
their inabUity to find returns wherewith to pay for the
manufactures of Great Britain, be probably led to man
ufacture for themselves; a consequence which experi
ence shows has constantly ai,ttended in a greater or
lesser degree every inland settlement, and therefore
ought, in our humble opinion, to-.be carefuUy guarded
against, by encouraging the settleraent of that exten
sive tract of seacoast hitherto unoiccupied; which, to
gether with the Uberty that the injiabitants of the raid-
die colonies wUl have (in consequence of the proposed
boundary line with the Indians) of gradually extending
theraselves backwards, wiU more effectually and bene
ficially answer the object of encouraging population and
consumption, than the erection of new governments.
Such gradual extension raight, through the medium of
a continued population, upon even the same extent of
territory, preserve a coramunication of rautual commer
cial benefits between its extremest parts and Great
Britain, impossible to exist in colonies separated by
immense tracts of unpeopled desert.
'"As to the effect which it is supposed the colo
nies may have to increase and promote the fur trade,
and to prevent aU contraband trade or intercourse be
tween the Indians under your Majesty's protection, and
the French or Spaniards ; it does appear to us, that
the extension of the fur trade depends entirely upon
the Indians being undisturbed in the possession of their
VOL. IV. 40 AA

314 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
hunting grounds ; that aU colonizing does in its nature,
and must in its consequences, operate to the prejudice
of that branch of coraraerce ; and that the French and
Spaniards would be left in possession of a great part
of what reraained ; as New Orleans would stiU con
tinue the best and surest market.
" ' As to the protection, which it is supposed these
new colonies raay be capable of affording' to the old
ones, it will, in our opinion, appear upon the sUghtest
view of their situation, that, so far from affording
protection to the old colonies, they wiU stand most in
need of it themselves.
" ' It cannot be denied, that new colonies would be
of advantage in raising provisions for the supply of such
forts and garrisons, a$ may be kept up in the neigh
bourhood of them ; but, as the degree of utUity wUl be
proportioned to the nuraber and situation of these forts
and garrisons, which, upon the result of the present
inquiry, it may be thought advisable to continue, so the
force of arguraent wiU depend upon that event.
" ' The present French inhabitants in the neighbour
hood of the Lakes will, in our hurable opinion, be suf
ficient to furnish with provisions whatever posts may be
necessary to be continued there ; and, as there are also
French inhabitants settied in sorae parts of the country
lying upon the Mississippi, between the rivers lUinois
and the Ohio, it is to be hoped that a sufficient nuraber
of these raay be induced to fix theh abode, where the
same convenience and advantage raay be derived from
them. But, if no such circumstance were to exist, and
no such assistance to be expected from it, the objections
stated to the plan now under our consideration are su-
pcirior to this, or any other advantage it can produce ;
and, although civil estabUshments have frequentiy ren
dered the expense of an arraed force necessary for

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 315
theh protection, one of the many objections to these
now proposed, yet we humbly presume there never
has been an instance of a govemment instituted raerely
with a view to supply a body of troops with suitable
provisions; nor is it necessary in these instances for
the settleraents, already existing as above described,
which, bemg formed under mUitary estabUshments, and
ever subjected to miUtary authority, do not, in our hum
ble opinion, require any other superintendence than
that of the raUitary officers coraraanding at these posts.'
"In addition to this opinion of the Board of Trade,
expressed in the foregoing recital, we further beg leave
to refer your Lordships to the opinion ofthe coraraander-
in-chief of his Majesty's forces in North America,
who, in a letter laid before us by the Earl of Hills
borough, deUvers his sentiments with regard to settie
raents in the interior parts of America in the following
words, viz.
" VII. ' As to increasing the settieraents to respecta
ble provinces, and to colonization in general terms in
the remote countries, I conceive it altogether inconsist
ent with sound policy ; for there is littie appearance
that the advantages wiU arise from it, which nations
expect when they send out colonies into foreign coun
tries. They can give no encourageraent to the fishery,
and, though the country might afford some kind of naval
stores, the distance would be too far to transport thera ;
and for the sarae reason they could not supply the
sugar islands with luraber and provisions. As for the
raising wine, silk, and other commodities, the same may
be said of the present colonies without planting others
for the purpose at so vast a distance ; but, on the sup
position that they would be raised, their very long
transportation must probably make thera too dear for
any market.

316 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
'"I do not apprehend the inhabitants could have any
commodities to barter for raanufactures, except skins
and furs, which wiU naturaUy decrease, as the country
increases in people, and the deserts are cultivated ; so
that, in the course of a few years, necessity would force
them to provide raanufactures of some kind for them
selves ; and, when aU connexion upheld by coraraerce
with the raother country shaU cease, it may be expect
ed, that an independency on her government wUl soon
foUow; the pretence of forming barriers wiU have no
end ; wherever we settle, however remote, there raust
be a frontier ; and there is roora enough for the colo
nists to spread within our present Uraits, for a century
to come.
'"If we reflect how the people of themselves have
graduaUy retired from the coast, we shaU be convinced
they want no encourageraent to desert the seacoast,
and go into the back countries, where the lands are
better and got upon easier terras ; they are aheady al
most out of the reach of law and government ; neither
the endeavours of governraent, nor fear of Indians, has
kept thera properly within bounds ; and it is apparently
most for the interest of Great Britain to confine the
colonies on the side of the back country, and to di
rect their settieraents along the seacoast, where raUUons
of acres are yet uncultivated. The lower provinces
are stiU thinly inhabhed and brought to the point of
perfection, that has been aimed at for the mutual ben
efit of Great Britain and themselves.
" ' Although Araerica may supply the raother coun
try with raany articles, few of thera are yet supplied
in quantities equal to her consuraptien ; the quantity of
iron transported is not great, of herap very sraall, and
there are many other coraraodities, not necessary to
enuraerate, which Araerica has not yet been able to

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 317
raise, notwithstanding the encouragement given her by
bounties and premiuras. The laying open new tracts
of fertUe territory in raoderate cliraates raight lessen her
present produce ; for it is the passion of every raan to
be a landholder, and the people have a natural dispo
sition to rove in search of good lands, however distant.
It raay be a question likewise, whether colonization
of the kind could be effected without an Indian war
and fighting for every inch of ground. The Indians
have long been jealous of our power, and have no pa
tience in seeing us approach their towns, and settie
upon their hunting grounds ; atoneraents raay be made
for a fraud discovered in a trader, and even the raur
der of sorae of their tribes, but encroachments upon
theh lands have often produced serious consequences.
The springs of the last general war are to be discov
ered near the AUegany Mountains, and upon the banks
of the Ohio.
" ' It is so obvious, that settlers raight raise provisions
to feed the xroops, cheaper than it can be transported
frora the country below, that it is not necessary to
explain it; but I raust own I know no other use in
settieraents, nor can give any other reason for support
ing forts, than to protect the settleraents, and keep the
settlers in subjection to governraent.
" ' I conceive, that to procure all the coraraerce it wifl
afford, and at as Uttle expense to ourselves as we can,
is the only object we should have in view in the interior
country for a century to corae ; and I iraagine it raight
be effected, by proper raanageraent, without either
forts or settieraents. Our raanufactures are as much
deshed by the Indians, as theh peltry is sought for by
us ; what was originally deeraed a superfluity, or a
luxury, by the natives, is now becorae a necessary ; they
are disused to the bow, and can neither hunt nor make

318 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
war without fire-arms, powder, and lead. The British
provinces can only supply them with their necessaries,
which they know, and for their own sakes would pro
tect the trader, which they actuafly do at present. It
would remain with us to prevent the traders being
guilty of frauds and impositions, and to pursue the
same methods to that end, as are taken in the southern
district; and I must confess, though the plan pursued
in that district might be improved by proper laws to
support it, that I do not know a better or more
economical plan for the manageraent of trade ; there
are neither forts nor settieraents in the southern de
partment, and there are both in the northern depart
ment ; and your Lordships wUl be the best judge,
which of them has given you the least trouble ; in
which we have had the fewest quarrels with, or cora
plaints frora, the Indians.
"'I know bf nothing so liable to bring on a seri
ous quarrel with Indians, as an invasion of theh prop
erty. Let the savages enjoy their deserts in quiet ;
little bickerings that may unavoidably sometiraes hap
pen, may soon be accoraraodated ; and I ara of opinion,
independent of the motives of coramon justice and
humanity, that the principles of interest and policy
should induce us rather to protect than molest them.
Were they driven frora their forests, the peltry trade
would decrease ; and it is not irapossible that worse
savages would take refuge in them, for they might then
becorae the asylura of fugitive negroes, and idle vag
abonds escaped frora justice, who in tirae might be
come formidable, and subsist by rapine, and plundering
the lower countries.'
"VIII. The opinions delivered in the foregoing re
citals are so accurate and precise, as to make it almost
unnecessary to add any thing more. But we beg leave

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 319
to lay before your Lordships the sentiments of his Maj
esty's governor of Georgia, upon the subject of large
grants in the interior parts of America, whose knowl
edge and experience in the affairs of the colonies give
great weight to his opinion.
"In a letter to us, on the subject of the mischiefs
attending such grants, he expresses himself in the fol
lowing manner, viz.
" ' And now, my Lords, I beg your patience a mo
ment, whUe I consider this matter in a more extensive
point of view, and go a littie further in declaring my
sentiments and opinion, with respect to the granting of
large bodies of land, in the back parts of the province
of Georgia, or in any other of his Majesty's northem
colonies, at a distance from the seacoast, or from such
parts of any province as is already settied and inhabited.
"'And this matter, my Lords, appears to rae in a
very serious and alarraing Ught, and I hurably con
ceive may be attended with the greatest and worst
of consequences. For, my Lords, if a vast territory be
granted to any set of gentlemen, who really mean to
people it, and actually do so, it must draw and carry
out a great number of people from Great Britain ; and
I apprehend they wiU soon becorae a kind of separate
and independent people, and who wiU set up for thera
selves ; that they wiU soon have raanufactures of their
own ; that they wiU neither take suppUes from the
mother country, nor from the provinces, at the back of
which they are settled ; that, being at a distance from
the seat of government, courts, magistrates, &.c. &c.,
they wiU be out of the reach and control of law and
government ; that it wifl become a receptacle and kind
of asylum for offenders, who wifl fly from justice to
such new country or colony ; and therefore crimes and
offences wifl be coraraitted, not only by the inhabitants

320 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
of such new settieraents, but elsewhere, and pass with
irapunity ; and that, in process of time (and perhaps
at no great distance), they wifl become forraidable
enough to oppose his Majesty's authority, disturb gov
ernment, and even give law to the other or first settled
part of the country, and throw every thing into con
fusion. "'My Lords, I hope I shafl not be thought imperti
nent, when I give ray opinion freely, in a raatter of
so great consequence, as I conceive this to be; and,
ray Lords, I apprehend, that. in afl the Araerican colo
nies, great care should be taken, that the lands on the
seacoast should be thick settied with inhabitants, and
well cultivated and improved ; and that the settlements
should be gradually extended back into the province,
and as rauch connected as possible, to keep the peo
ple together in as narrow a corapass, as the nature of
the lands and state of things wiU admit of; and by
which means there would probably becorae only one
general view and interest amongst thera, and the power
of governraent and law would of course naturaUy and
easily go with thera, and raatters thereby properly reg
ulated and kept in due order and obedience ; and they
would have no idea of resisting or transgressing either,
without being araenable to justice, and subject to pun
ishment for offences they may commit.
" ' But, ray Lords, to suffer a kind of province loiihin
a province, and one that may, indeed must, in process
of time, becorae superior, and too big for the head, or
original settlement or seat of governraent, to me con
veys with it many ideas of consequences of such a na
ture, as I apprehend are extreraely dangerous and im
proper, and it would be the policy of governraent to
avoid and prevent, whUst in their power to do so.
" ' My ideas, ray Lords, are not chimerical ; I know
something of the situation and state of things in Amer-

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 321
ica ; and from some littie occurrences or instances that
have already really happened, I can very easily figure
to myself what may, and, in short, what wUl certainly
happen, if not prevented in time.'
" IX. At the same time that we submit the foregoing
reasons against colonization in the interior country to
your Lordships' consideration, it is proper we should
take notice of one argument, which has been invariably
held forth in support of every proposition of this nature,
and upon which the present proponents appear to lay
great stress. It is urged, that such is the state of the
country now proposed to be granted, and erected into
a separate government, that no endeavours on the part
of the crown can avaU, to prevent its being settied by
those, who, by the mcrease of population in the middle
colonies, are continuaUy eraigratmg to the westward,
and forming themselves into colonies in that country,
without the intervention or control of government, and
who, if suffered to continue in that lawless state of an
archy and confusion, wiU commit such abuses as cannot
fail of involving us in quarrel and dispute with the In
dians, and thereby endangermg the security of his Maj
esty's colonies.
" We admit, that this is an argument that deserves
attention ; and we rather take notice of it in this place,
because some of the objections stated by Govemor
Wright lose theh force, upon the supposition that the
grants against which he argues are to be erected into
separate govemments. But we are clearly of opinion,
that his arguments do, m the general view of them, as
appUed to the question of granting lands in the interior
parts of America, stand unanswerable ; and, admittmg
that the settiers m the country in question are as nu
merous as report states them to be, yet we submit to
your Lordships, that this is a fact which does, in the
VOL. IV. 41

322 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
nature of it, operate strongly in point of argument
against what is proposed ; for, if the foregoing reason
ing has any weight, it certainly ought to induce your
Lordships to advise his Majesty to take every raethod
to check the progress of these settieraents, and not to
raake such grants of the land as wiU have an imme
diate tendency to encourage them ; a raeasure which
we conceive is altogether as unnecessary as it is irapol
itic, as we see nothing to hinder the govemraent of
Virginia frora extending the laws and constitution of
that colony to such persons as raay have already set-
tied there under legal tities.
" X. And there is one objection suggested by Gover
nor Wright to the extension of settieraents in the inte
rior country, which we submit, deserves your Lordships'
particular attention, viz, the encouragement that is
thereby held out to the emigration of his Majesty's
European subjects ; an argument which, in the present
peculiar situation of this kingdom, demands very serious
consideration, and has for some time past had so great
weight with this Board, that it has induced us to deny
our concurrence to many proposals for grants of land,
even in those parts of the continent of Araerica where,
in aU other respects, we are of opinion, that it consists
with the tme policy of this kingdora to encourage set
tlements ; and this consideration of the certain bad
consequences which must result from a continuance
of such emigrations as have lately taken place frora
various parts of his Majesty's European dorainions,
added . to the constant drains to Africa, to the East In
dies, and to the new-ceded islands, wUl, we trust, with
what has been before stated, be a sufficient answer to
every arguraent that can be urged in support of the
present memorial, so far as regards the consideration
of it in point of policy.
" XI. With regard to the propriety, in pomt of jus-

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 323
tice, of raaking the grant desired, we presume this
consideration can have reference only to the case of
such persons who have already possession of lands in
that part of the country, under legal tities derived from
grants made by the governor and CouncU of Virginia ;
upon which case we have only to observe, that it does
appear to us, that there are some such possessions held
by persons who are not parties to the present memorial ;
and therefore, if your Lordships shaU be of opinion, that
the making the grant desired would, notwithstanding
the reservation proposed, in respect to such titles, have
the effect to disturb those possessions, or to expose the
proprietors to suit and Utigation, we do conceive, that,
in that case, the grant would be objectionable in point
of justice.
" XII. Upon the whole, therefore, we cannot recom
mend to your Lordships to advise his Majesty to com
ply with the prayer of this meraorial, either as to the
erection of any parts of the lands into a separate gov
ernment, or the making a, grant of them to the memo
riahsts ; but, on the contrary, we are of opinion, that
settlements in that distant part of the country should be
as rauch discouraged as possible ; and that, in order
thereto, it wUl be expedient, not only that the orders
which have been given to the governor of Vhginia, not
to make any further grants beyond the line prescribed
by the proclaraation of 1763, should be continued and
enforced, but that another proclamation should be is
sued, declaratory of his Majesty's resolution not to al
low, for the present, any new settlements beyond that
line, and to forbid afl persons from taking up or settUng
any lands in that part of the country.
" We are, my Lords,
"Your Lordships' most obedient and
"Most humble servants.
« Wlvitehall, Apnl I5th, 1772."

324 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
DR. FRANKLIN'S ANSWER TO THE FORE
GOING REPORT.
I. The first paragraph of the Report, we apprehend,
was intended to establish two propositions as facts ; viz.
Fhst, That the tract of land, agreed for with the
Lords Coramissioners of the Treasury, contains part of
the dominion of Virginia.
Secondly, That it extends several degrees of longi
tude westicard from the western ridge of the AUega
ny Mountains.
On the first proposition we shaU only remark, that
no part of the above tract is to the eastioard of the
AUegany Mountains, and that those raountains raust
be considered as the true western boundary of Vir
ginia ; for the King was not seised and possessed of
a right to the country westward of the raountains, untU
his Majesty purchased it, in the year 1768, from the
Six Nations ; and, since that time, there has not been
any annexation of such purchase, or of any part there
of, to the colony of Virginia.
On the second proposition we shafl just observe
that the Lords Comraissioners for Trade and Planta
tions appear to us to be as erroneous in this, as in the
forraer proposition ; for their Lordships say, that the
tract of land under consideration extends several de
grees of longitude westward. The truth is, that it is
not more, on a raediura, than one degree and a half
of longitude frora the western ridge of the Aflegany
Mountains to the River Ohio.
II. It appears, by the second paragraph, as fl" the
Lords Coraraissioners for Trade and Plantations ap
prehended, that the lands southwesterly of the boun
dary Une, marked on a map annexed to their Lord
ships' Report, were either claimed by the Cherokees,

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 325
or were their hunting grounds, or were the hunting
grounds of the Six Nations and theh confederates.
As to any claim of the Cherokees to the above coun
try, it is altogether new and indefensible, and never
was heard of untU the appointraent of Mr. Stuart to
the superintendency of the southern colonies, about
the year 1764; and this, we flatter ourselves, wiU not
only be obvious frora the following state of facts, but
that the right to aU the country on the southerly side
of the River Ohio, quite to the Cherokee River, is now
undoubtedly vested in the King, by the grant which
the Six Nations made to his Majesty at Fort Stanwix,
in November, 1768. In short, the lands frora the Great
Kenhawa to the Cherokee River never were either the
dweUing or hunting grounds of the Cherokees ; but
formerly belonged to, and were inhabited by, the Shaw-
anese, untU such time as they were conquered by the
Six Nations.
Mr. Colden, the present lieutenant-governor of New
York, in his "History of the Five Nations," observes, that,
about the year 1664, "the Five Nations, being amply
suppUed by the English with fire-arms and ammuni
tion, gave a fuU swing to their warlike genius. They
carried their arms as far south as Carolina, to the north
ward of New England, and as far west as the River
Mississippi, over a vast country, which extended twelve
hundred miles in length frora north to south, and about
six hundred railes in breadth, where they entirely de
stroyed whole nations, of. whoni there are no accounts
remaining araong the EngUsh."
In 1701, the Five Nations put aU their hunting lands
under the protection of the English, as appears by the
records, and by the recital and confirraation thereof, in
theh deed to the King of the 4th September, 1726;
and Governor Pownall, who many years ago dUigently
VOL. IV. EB

326 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
searched into the rights of the natives, and in partic
ular into those of the northern confederacy, says, in
his book entitled the Administration of the Colomes,
"The right of the Five-Nation confederacy to the
hunting lands of Ohio, Ticucksouchrondite and Scan-
iaderiada, by the conquest they raade in subduing the
Shaoanoes, Delawares (as we caU thera), Twigtwees,
and OUinois, may be fahly proved, as they stood pos
sessed thereof at the peace of Ryswick, 1697." And
confirraatory hereof, Mr. Lewis Evans, a gentleman of
great American knowledge, in his Map of the raiddle
colonies, pubUshed in Araerica in the year 1755, has
laid down the country on the southeasterly side of the
River Ohio, as the hunting lands of the Six Nations ;
and in his Analysis to this Map, he expressly says ;
" The Shawanese, who were formerly one of the most
considerable nations of those parts of America, whose
seat extended from Kentucky southwestward to the
Mississippi, have been subdued by the confederates (or
Six Nations), and the country since became their prop
erty. No nation," Mr. Evans adds, "held out with
greater resolution and bravery ; and, although they have
been scattered in aU parts for a whUe, they are again
collected on Ohio, under the dominion of the confed
erates." At a Congress held in the year 1744, by the prov
inces of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, with the
Six Nations, the commissioners of Virginia, in a speech
to the sachems and warriors of that confederacy,' say ;
"TeU us what nations of Indians you conquered any
lands frora in Virginia, how long it is since, and what
possession you have h9.d ; and if it does appear, that
there is any land on the borders of Virginia, that the
Six Nations have a right to, we are wiUing to malce you
satiffaction."

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 327
To this speech, the Six Nations gave the following
animated and decisive answer. " Afl the world knows
we conquered the several nations living on Susquehan
na, Cohongoranto [that is, Potomac], and on the back
of the great mountains in Vhginia ; the Conoy-uck-
suck-roona, Cock-now-was-roonan, Tohoa-irough-roo-
nan, and Connutskin-ough-roonaw feel the effects of
our conquests, being now a part of our nations, and
their lands at our disposal. We know very well, it
hath often been said by the Virginians, that the King
of England and the people of that colony conquered
the people who Uved there ; but it is not true. We wifl
allow they conquered the Sachdagughronaw, and drove
back the Tuskaroras [the first resided near the branch
es of James River in Virginia, and the latter on these
branches], and that they have, on that account, a right
to some parts of Vhginia ; but, as to what lies beyond
the mountains, we conquered the nations residing there,
and that land, if the Virginians ever get a good right
to it, it must be by us."
In the year 1750, the French seized four EngUsh
traders, who were trading with the Six Nations^ Shaw
anese, and Delawares, on the waters of the Ohio; and
sent them prisoners to Quebec, and from thence to
France. In 1754, the French took a formal possession of the
River Ohio, and buflt forts at Venango, at the conflu
ence of the Ohio and Monongahela, and at the mouth
of the Cherokee River.
In 1755, General Braddock was sent to America
with an array to reraove the French frora theh posses
sions over the AUegany Mountains and on the River
Ohio , and on his arrival at Alexandria, he held a coun
cU of war whh the governors of Virginia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, New York, and the Massachusetts Bay ;

328 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
and, as these gentlemen weU knew, that the country
claimed by the French, over the AUegany Mountains,
and southwesterly to the River Mississippi, was the
unquestionable property of the Six Nations, and not
of the Cherokees, or any other tribe of Indians, the
general gave instructions to Sir WUliam Johnson to caU
together the Indians of the Six Nations, and lay before
thera their beforementioned grant to the King in 1726,
wherein they had put aU theh hunting lands under his
Majesty's protection, to be guarantied to them and to
their use. And, as General Braddock's instructions are
clearly declaratory of the right of the Six Nations to
the lands under consideration, we shall here transcribe
the conclusive words of them; "And, it appearing that
the French have, frora tirae to time, by fraud and vio
lence, buUt strong forts within the Umits of the said
lands, contrary to the covenant chain of the said deed
and treaties, you are, in my name, to assure the said
nations, that I am come by his Majesty's order to de
stroy afl the said forts, and to bufld such others, as
shafl protect and secure the said lands to them, theh
heirs and successors for ever, according to the intent
and spirit of the said treaty ; and I do therefore cafl
upon thera to take up the hatchet and come and take
possession of their own lands."
That General Braddock and the American governors
were not singular in their opinion, as to the right of
the Six Nations to the land over the AUegany Moun
tains, and on both sides of the River Ohio, quite to the
Mississippi, is evident from the raeraorials, which passed
between the British and French courts in 1755.
In a memorial delivered by the King's ministers on
the 7th June, 1755, to the Due de Mirepoix, relative to
the pretensions of France to the abovementioned lands,
they very justly observed ; " As to the exposition,

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 329
which is made in the French raemorial of the fifteenth
article of the treaty of Utrecht, the court of Great Brit
ain does not think it can have any foundation, either by
the words or the intention of this treaty.
" The court of Great Britain cannot allow of this ar
ticle, relating only to the persons of the savages, and
not theh country. The words of this treaty are clear
and precise, that is to say, the Five Nations, or Can
tons, ai'e subject to the dominion of Great Britam,
which, hf the received exposition of afl treaties, must
relate to the country, as wefl as to the persons of the
inhabitants ; it is what France has acknowledged, in
the most solemn manner; she had wefl weighed the
iraportance of this acknowledgraent, at the tirae of sign
ing this treaty, and Great Britain can never give it up.
The countries possessed by these Indians are very wefl
known, and are not at afl so undeterrained, as it is pre
tended in the raeraorial ; they possess and make thera
over, as other proprietors do in afl other places."
" Whatever pretext might be aUeged by France, in
considering these countries as the appurtenances of
Canada, it is a certain truth, that they have belonged,
and (as they have not been given up or made over to
the EngUsh) belong stiU, to the sarae Indian nations ;
which, by the fifteenth article of the treaty of Utrecht,
France agreed not to raolest, JYullo in posterum impedi
menta aut molestid ajficiant."
" Notwithstanding aU that has been advanced in this
article, the court of Great Britain cannot agree to France
havmg the least title to the River Ohio, and the terri
tory in question." [N. B. This was all the country
frora the Allegany Mountains to the Ohio, and down
the sarae and on both sides thereof to the River Mis
sissippi.] " Even that of possession is not, nor can it be aUeged
VOL. IV. 42 BB*

330 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
on this occasion ; since France cannot pretend to have
had any such before the treaty of Aix-la-Chapefle,
nor since, unless it be that of certain forts, unjustly
erected lately on the lands, which evidently belong to
the Five Nations, or which these have raade over to
the crown of Great Britain or its subjects, as raay be
proved by treaties and acts of the greatest authority.
What the court of Great Britain maintained, and what
it insists upon, is, that the Five Nations of the Iroquois,
acknowledged by France to be the subjects 'of Great
Britain, are, by origin or by right of conquest, the lawful
proprietors of the River Ohio, and the territory in ques
tion. And, as to the territory, which has been yielded
and made over by these people to Great Britain (which
cannot but be owned must be the raost just and lawful
raanner of raaking an acquisition of this sort), she re
claims it, as belonging to her, having continued culti
vating it for above twenty years past, and having raade
settlements in several parts of it, from the sources even
of the Ohio to PichawUlanes, in the centre of the terri
tory between the Ohio and the Wabash."
In 1755, the Lords Commissioners for Trade and
Plantations were so soUcitous to ascertain the territory
of the Six Nations, that Dr. Mitchell, by their desire,
published a large map of North Araerica ; and Mr.
Pownall, the present secretary of the Board of Trade,
then certified, as appears on the raap, that the Doctor
was furnished with documents for the purpose from that
Board. In this raap. Dr. MitcheU observes, " that the Six
Nations have extended their territories, ever since the
year 1672, when they subdued and were incorporated
with the ancient Shawanese, the native proprietors of
these countries, and the River Ohio; besides which, they
likewise claim a right of conquest over the Illinois, and all
the Mississippi, as far as they extend. This," he adds.

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 331
"is confirmed by their own clairas and possessions in
1742, which include aU the bounds here laid down,
and none have ever thought fit to dispute them." And,
in confirmation of this right of the Six Nations to the
country on the Ohio, as raentioned by the King's rain
isters in theh raeraorial to the Due de Mhepoix, in
1755, we would just remark, that the Six Nations,
Shawanese, and Delawares were in the actual occu
pation of the lands southward of the Great Kenhawa,
for some tirae after the French had encroached upon
the River Ohio; and that, in the year 1752, these
tribes had a large town on Kentucky River, two hun
dred and thirty-eight raUes below the Scioto; that,
in the year 1753, they resided and hunted on the
southerly side of the River Ohio, in the low country,
at about three hundred and twenty raUes below the
Great Kenhawa ; and, in the year 1 765, they had also
a large town opposke to the raouth of the Scioto, at the
very place which is the southem boundary Une of the
tract of land appUed for by Mr. Walpole and his asso
ciates. But it is a certain fact that the Cherokees never
had any towns or settieraents in the country, southward
of the Great Kenhawa ; that they do not hunt there,
and that neither the Six Nations, Shawanese, nor Del
awares do now reside or hunt on the southerly side
of the River Ohio, nor did for several years before they
sold the country to the King. These are facts, which
can be easily and fully proved.
In October, 1768, at a Congress held with the Six
Nations at Fort Stanwix, they observed to Sir WilUam
Johnson ; " Now, brother, you, who know aU our affairs,
must be sensible, that our rights go much farther to the
southward than the Kenhawa, and that we have a very
good and clear titie as far south as the Cherokee River,
which we cannot allow to be the right of any other

332 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Indians, without domg wrong to our posterity, and acting
unworthy those warriors, who fought and conquered
it ; we therefore expect our right wiU be considered."
In November, 1768, the Six Nations sold to the King
afl the country on the southerly side of the River Ohio,
as far as the Cherokee River; but, notwithstanding
that sale, as soon as it was understood in Virginia, that
government favored the pretensions of the Cherokees,
and that Dr. Walker and Colonel Lewis (the comrais
sioners sent from that colony to the Congress at Fort
Stanwix) had returned from thence, the late Lord Bote
tourt sent these gentlemen to Charleston, South Car
olina, to endeavour to convince Mr. Stuart, the southem
superintendent of Indian affairs, of the necessity of en
larging the boundary line which he had settied with
the Cherokees ; and to . run it from the Great Ken
hawa to Holston River. These gentlemen were ap
pointed commissioners by his Lordship, as they had
been long conversant in Indian affairs, and were wefl
acquainted with the actual extent of the Cherokee
country. WhUst these commissioners were in South
Carolina, they wrote a letter to Mr. Stuart, as he had
been but a very fevv years in the Indian service, (and
could not, from the nature of his forraer employraent,
be supposed to be properly informed about the Chero
kee territory,) respecting the claims of the Cherokees
to the lands southward of the Great Kenhawa, and
therein they expressed themselves as follows.
" Charleston, South Carolina, February 2d, 1769. —
The country southward of the Big Kenhawa was never
claimed by the Cherokees, and now is the property of
the crown, as Sir WiUiara Johnson purchased it of the
Six Nations at a very considerable expense, and took
a deed of cession frora them at Fort Stanwix."
In 1769, the House of Burgesses of the colony of

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 333
Vhginia represented to Lord Botetourt, "That they
have the greatest reason to fear the said line " (raean
ing the boundary Une, which the Lords Coraraissioners
for Trade and Plantations have referred to in the raap
annexed to their Lordships' Report), "if confirraed,
would constantly open to the Indians, and other ene
raies to his Majesty, a free and easy ingress to the
heart of the country on the Ohio, Holston River, and
the Great Kenhawa ; whereby the settieraents which
may be attempted in those quarters will, in aU prob
abUity, be utterly destroyed, and that great extent of
country [at least eight hundred raUes in length] frora
the mouth of the Kenhawa to the mouth of the Chero
kee River, extending eastward as far as the Laurel HUl,
so lately ceded to his Majesty, to which no tribe of
Indians at present set up any pretensions, wifl be en
tirely abandoned to the Cherokees; in consequence of
which, claims totally destructive of the true interest of
his Majesty may at some future time arise, and acqui
sitions justly ranked among the most valuable of the
late war be altogether lost."
Frora the foregoing detafl of facts, it is obvious,
1. That the country southward of the Great Ken
hawa, at least as far as the Cherokee River, originafly
belonged to the Shawanese.
2. That the Six Nations, in virtue of their conquest
of the Shawanese, becarae the lawful proprietors of
that country.
3. That the King, in consequence of the grant from
the Six Nations, made to his Majesty at Fort Stanwix.
in 1768, is now vested with the undoubted right and
property thereof.
4. That the Cherokees never resided, nor hunted,
in that country, and have not any kind of right to it.
5. That the House of Burgesses of the colony of

334 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Virginia have, upon good grounds, asserted, (such as
properly arise from the nature of their stations and
proxiraity to the Cherokee country,) that the Chero
kees had not any just pretensions to the territory
southward of the Great Kenhawa.
And, lastly. That neither the Six Nations, the Shaw
anese, nor Delawares do now reside or hunt in that
country. From these considerations, it is evident no possible
injury can arise to his Majesty's service, to the Six
Nations and their confederacy, or to the Cherokees, by
permitting us to settle the whole of the lands corapre
hended within our contract with the Lords Corarais
sioners of the Treasury. If, however, there has been
any treaty held with the Six Nations, since the cession
raade to his Majesty at Fort Stanwix, whereby the
faith of the crown is pledged, both to the Six Nations
and the Cherokees, that no settieraents should be raade
beyond the Une, raarked on their Lordships' Report ;
we say, if such agreeraent has been raade by the or
ders of governraent wkh these tribes, (notwithstanding,
as the Lords Comraissioners have acknowledged, " the
Six Nations had ceded the property in the lands to his
Majesty,") we flatter ourselves, that the objection of
their Lordships in the second paragraph of their Re
port wUl be entirely obviated, by a specific clause being
inserted in the King's grant to us, expressly prohibiting
us frora settiing any part of the same, untU such time
as we shafl have first obtained his Majesty's aflowance,
and fufl consent of the Cherokees, and the Six Na
tions and their confederates, for that purpose.*
* The foregoing argument is drawn up with equal ingenuity and abil
ity, but the soundness of its superstructure may well be doubted. It
rests on the assumption, that the territory west of the Ohio had be
longed to tlie Six Nations, in virtue of some former conquest It is true,

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 335
III. In regard to the third paragraph of their Lord
ships' Report, That it was the principle of the Board
of Trade, after the treaty of Paris, "to confine the
western extent of settleraents to such a distance from
the seacoast, as that these settlements should Ue within
the reach of the trade and coraraerce of this kingdom,"
&c., we shafl not presume to controvert it ; but it may
be observed, that the settiement of the country over
the AUegany Mountains, and on the Ohio, was not un
derstood, either before the treaty of Paris, nor intended
that the Six Nations set up this claim, and equally true that the English
encouraged their pretensions ; but it would be very difficult, if not im
possible, to establish this point by satisfactory proofs. Indian traditions
will hardly be deemed sufficient, especially as the Indians, inhabiting
the territory itself, never allowed any such claim ; nor was any treaty
of cession ever sanctioned by them. It was an easy matter for the
Six Nations, residing on tlie south shore of Lake Ontario, to sell
lands situate four or five hundred miles off; and probably they would
with the same readiness have sold the whole continent, if they could
have found purchasers. The English were interested in upholding their
pretended right of conquest, because it enabled them, at the charge of
a few hundred pounds expended in blankets, powder, rum, and such trink
ets as the Indians wanted, to obtain a title to an immense tract of coun
try, which would have been more troublesome and expensive; and per
haps impracticable, if they had attempted to negotiate with the occu
pants of the soil.
The treaty of Fort Stanvidx, cited above, was signed only by delegates
fi'om the Six Nations, that is, the Mohawks, Tuscaroras, Oneidas, Onon
dagas, Cayugas, and Senecas ; although there were present at the treaty
two delegates from the Delawares, and one from the Shawanese. Among
these was the celebrated Killbuck. That their names should have been
withheld, is a suspicious circumstance. Indeed the propriety and validity
of the whole proceeding are more than questionable. Tbe lands be
longed to the people who inhabited them, and whose ancestors had re
sided there from time immemorial. These were the only persons from
whom a purchase could justly have been made. See Sparks's edi
tion of Washington's Writings, Vol. L p. 21 ; Vol. II. p. 13.
The strength of Dr. Frankhn's argument, however, is in no degree
afiected by this view of the subject. He assumes no more, than had
been taken for granted by the British government, and builds his rea
sonings on such principles and facts, as were recognised in managing
the department of Indian affairs. — Editok.

336 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
to be so considered by his Majesty's proclaraation of
October, 1763, "as without the reach of the trade and
coraraerce of this kingdom," &c. ; for, in the year 1748,
Mr. John Hanbury, and a nuraber of other gentiemen,
petitioned the King for a grant of five hundred thou
sand acres of land over the Allegany Mountains, and
on the River Ohio and its branches; and the Lords
Commissioners for Trade and Plantations were then
pleased to report to the Lords comraittee of his Maj
esty's most honorable Privy Council, " That the settle
ment of the country lying to the westward of the great
raountains, as it was the centre of the British dorainions,
would be for his Majesty's interest, and the advantage
and security of Virginia and the neighbouring colonies."
And on the 23d of Febmary, 1748-9, the Lords
Commissioners for Trade and Plantations again reported
to the Lords of the committee of the Privy CouncU,
that they had "fully set forth the great utiUty and
advantage of extending our settieraents beyond the
great raountains, (' which report has been approved of
by your Lordships;') and as, by these new proposals,
there is a great probabiUty of having a rauch larger
tract of the said country settled than under the forraer,
we are of opinion, that it wUl be greatly for his Majes
ty's service, and the welfare and security of Vhginia,
to coraply wkh the prayer of the petition."
And on the 16th of March, 1748-9, an instruction
was sent to the govemor of Virginia to grant five hun
dred thousand acres of land over the AUegany Moun
tains to the aforesaid Mr. Hanbury and his partners
(who are now part of the company of Mr. Walpole and
his associates); and that instruction sets forth, that
"such settieraents wiU be for our interest, and the
advantage and security of our said colony, as weU as
the advantage of the neighbouring ones; inasrauch

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 337
as our loving subjects wiU be thereby enabled to culti
vate a friendship, and carry on a more extensive com
merce, with the nations of Indians inhabiting those
parts-; and such examples may Ukewise induce the
neighbouring colonies to turn their thoughts towards
designs of the sarae nature." Hence, we apprehend,
it is evident, that a forraer Board of Trade, at which the
late Lord Halifax presided, was of opinion, that settle
raents over the AUegany Mountains were not against
the King's interest, nor at such a distance from the
seacoast, as to be without " the reach of the trade and
coraraerce of this kingdom," nor where its authority or
jurisdiction could not be exercised. But the Report
under consideration suggests, that two capital objects
of the proclamation of 1763 were, to confine future
settlements to the "sources of the rivers which fafl
into the sea from the west and northwest," (or, in other
words, to the eastem side of the Allegany Mountains,)
and to the three new governments of Canada, East
Florida, and West Florida ; and to estabUsh this fact,
the Lords Comraissioners for Trade and Plantations
recite a part of that proclaraation.
But if the whole of this proclaraation is considered,
it wiU be found to contain the nine foflowing heads ;
viz.* 1. To declare to his Majesty's subjects, that he had
erected four distinct and separate governraents in Amer
ica; viz. Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and
Grenada. 2. To ascertain the respective boundaries of these
four new governraents.
3. To testify the royal sense and approbation of the
conduct and bravery, both of the officers and soldiers

* See the Proclaraation in the Appendix, No. I. p. 374.
VOL. IV. 43 CO

338 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
of the King's army, and of the reduced officers of the
navy, who had served in North Araerica, and to reward
thera by grants of lands in Quebec, and in East and
West Florida, without fee or reward.
4. To hinder the governors of Quebec, East Florida,
and West Florida frora granting warrants of survey, or
passing patents for lands beyond the bounds of their
respective governraents.
5. To forbid the govemors of any other colonies or
plantations in Araerica frora granting warrants or pass
ing patents for lands beyond the heads or sources of
any of the rivers, which fafl into the Atlantic Ocean
from the west or northwest, or upon any lands what
ever, "which, not having been ceded to or purchased
by the King, are reserved to the said Indians, or any
of them."
6. To reserve, "for the present," under the King's
sovereignty, protection, and dorainion, "for the use of
the said Indians," afl the lands not included within the
limits of the said three new govemments, or within the
Umits of the Hudson's Bay Corapany ; as also, afl the
lands lying to the westward of the sources of the riv
ers, which fafl into the sea frora the west and north
west, and forbidding the King's subjects frora raaking
any purchases or settieraents whatever, or taking pos
session of the lands so reserved, without his Majesty's
leave and license first obtained.
7. To require aU persons, who had raade settieraents
on lands not purchased by the King frora the Indians,
to remove from such settieraents.
8. To regulate the future purchases of lands from
the Indians, within such pai'ts as his Majesty, by that
proclamation, perraitted settlements to be made upon.
9. To declare, that the trade w'ith the Indians should
be free and open to aU his Majesty's subjects, and to
prescribe the manner how it shaU be carried on.

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 339
And, lastly, To require aU raiUtary officers, and the
superintendents of Indian affairs, to seize and apprehend
aU persons who stood charged with treasons, raurders,
&c., and who had fled frora justice and taken refuge in
the reserved lands of the Indians, to send such persons
to the colony where they stood accused.
Frora this proclamation, therefore, it is obvious, that
the sole design of it, independent of the estabUshment
of the three new governraents, ascertaining their re
spective boundaries, rewarding the officers and soldiers,
regulating the Indian trade, and apprehending felons,
was to convince the Indians "of his Majesty's justice
and deterrained resolution to reraove aU reasonable
cause of discontent," by interdicting all settlements on
land not ceded to, or purchased by, his Majesty ; and
declaring it to be, as we have aheady mentioned, his
royal wUl and pleasure, "for the present, to reserve,
under his sovereignty, protection, and dominion, for the
use of the Indians, aU the land and territories lying to
the westward of the sources of the rivers, which fafl
into the sea from the west and northwest." Can any
words express raore decisively the royal intention?
Do they not explickly raention, that the territory is, at
present, reserved, under his Majesty's protection, for
the use of the Indians 1 And, as the Indians had no
use for those lands, which are bounded westerly by
the southeast side of the river Ohio, either for resi
dence or hunting, they were willing to seU them ; and
accordingly did seU them to the King in Noveraber,
1768, the occasion of which sale will be fully explained
in our observations on the succeeding paragraphs of
the Report. Of course, the proclamation, so far as it
regarded the settleraent of the lands included within
that purchase, has absolutely and undoubtedly ceased.
The late Mr. GrenvUle, who was, at the time of issuing

340 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
this proclaraation, the rainister of this kingdora, always
adraitted, that the design of it was totaUy accompUshed,
so soon as the country was purchased from the natives.
IV. In this paragraph, the Lords Comraissioners for
Trade and Plantations mention two reasons for his
Majesty's entering into engagements with the Indians,
for fixing a raore precise and deterrainate boundary
Une than was settied by the proclaination of October,
1763, viz.
Fhst, Partly for want of precision in the one intend
ed to be raarked by the proclamation of 1763.
Secondly, And partly from a consideration of justice
in regard to legal titles to lands.
We have, we presurae, fully proved, in our observa
tions on the third paragraph, that the design of the
proclaraation, so far as related to lands westward of the
AUegany Mountains, was for no other purpose than to
reserve thera, under his Majesty's protection, for the
present, for the use of the Indians ; to which we shafl
only add, that the line estabUshed by the proclamation,
so far as it concemed the lands in question, could not
possibly be fixed and described with raore precision,
than the proclaraation itself describes it ; for it declares,
that " afl the lands and territories lying to the westward
of the sources of the rivers, which fafl into the sea frora
the west and northwest," should be reserved under his
Majesty's protection.
Neither, in our opinion, was his Majesty induced to
enter into engageraents with the Indians, for fixing a
raore precise and deterrainate boundary, "partly from
a consideration of justice, in regard to legal tities to
lands," for there were none such (as we shafl prove)
coraprehended within the tract now under consideration.
But for a fufl coraprehension of afl the reasons for
his Majesty's "entering into engagements with the

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 341
Indians, for fixing a more precise and determint-te boun
dary line," than was settied by the royal proclamation
of October, 1763, we shaU take the liberty of stating
the foUowing facts. In the year 1764, the King's min
isters had it then in contemplation to obtain an act of
Parliaraent for the proper regulation of the Indian com
merce, and providing a fund, by laymg a duty on the
trade, for the support of superintendents, coraraissaries,
interpreters, &c., at particular forts in the Indian coun
try, where the trade was to be carried on ; and, as a
part of this systera it was thought proper, in order to
avoid flSture complaints from the Indians, on account
of encroachments on their hunting grounds, to pur
chase a large tract of territory from them, and estabUsh,
with their consent, a respectable boundary line, beyond
which his Majesty's subjects should not be permitted
to settle.
In consequence of this systera, orders were trans
mitted to Sir WilUam Johnson, in the year 1764, to caU
together the Six Nations, lay this proposition of the
boundary before them, and take their opinion upon it.
This, we apprehend, wUl appear evident from the fol
lowing speech, raade by Sir WiUiam to the Six Nations,
at a conference which he held with them at Johnson
Hall, May the 2d, 1765.
" Brethren,
" The last, but the raost important affair I have at
this time to raention is, with regard to the settUng a
boundary between you and the EngUsh. I sent a raes
sage to sorae of your nation sorae tirae ago, to ac
quaint you, that I should confer with you at this meet
ing upon k. The King, whose generosity and for
giveness you have already experienced, being very
desirous to put a final end to disputes between his

342 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS,
people and you concerning lands, and to do you strict
justice, has fallen upon the plan of a boundary between
our provinces and the Indians, which no white man
shaU dare to invade, as the best and surest raethod of
ending such like disputes, and securing your property
to you beyond a possibility of disturbance. This wiU,
I hope, appear to you so reasonable, so just on the
part of the King, and so advantageous to you and
your posterity, that I can have no doubt of your cheer
fully joining with me in settiing such a division line, as
wUl be best for the advantage of both white men and
Indians, and as shall best agree with the extSnt and
increase of each province, and the governors, whora I
shaU consult upon that occasion, so soon as I ara fully
erapowered ; but in the raean time I am desirous to
know in what raanner you would choose to extend it,
and what you wiU agree heartily to, and abide by, in
general terms. At the sarae tirae, I ara to acquaint
you, that whenever the whole is settled, and that it
shall appear you have so far consulted the increasing
state of our people, as to make any convenient cessions
of ground where it is most wanted, that then you
wiU receive a considerable present in return for your
friendship." To this speech the sachems and warriors of the Six
Nations, after conferring some tirae among themselves,
gave an answer to Sir WiUiam Johnson, and agreed to
the proposition of the boundary line ; which answer,
and the other transactions of this conference, Sir Wil
Uam transraitted to the office of the Lords Comrais
sioners for Trade and Plantations.
Frora a change of the adrainistration, which forraed
the above system of obtaining an act of ParUament for
regulating the Indian trade and estabUshing the boun
dary line, or from some other pubhc cause, unknown to

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 343
us, no measures were adopted, untU the latter end of
the year 1767, for corapleting the negotiation about
this boundary Une. But in the raean tirae, viz. be
tween the years 1765 and 1768, the King's subjects
reraoved in great nurabers frora Virginia, Mairyland, and
Pennsylvania, and settied over the raountains ; upon
which account the Six Nations becarae so hritated, that
in the year 1766 they kUled several persons, and de
nounced a general war against the raiddle colonies ;
and to appease thera, and to avoid such a pubhc ca
lamity, a detachment from the forty-second regiment
of foot was that year sent from the garrison of Fort
Pitt, to remove such settiers as were seated at Red-
Stone Creek, &c. ; but the endeavours and threats of
this detachment proved ineffectual, and they returned
to the garrison without being able to execute their or
ders. The complamts of the Six Nations, however,
contmuing and increasing, on account of the settling
of theh lands over the raountains. General Gage wrote
to the governor of Pennsylvania on the 7th of Decem
ber, 1767, and after mentioning these complaints, he
observed ; " You are a witness how littie attention has
been paid to the several proclamations that have been
pubUshed, . and that even the removmg those people
frora the lands in question, which was attempted this,
sumraer by the garrison at Fort Pitt, has been only a
temporary expedient. We leam they are returned
again to the sarae encroachraents on Red-Stone Creek
and Cheat River, in greater nurabers than ever."
On the 5th of January, 1768, the governor of Penn
sylvania sent a raessage to the General Asserably dF
the province, with the foregoing letter frora General
Gage; and on the 13th the Assembly, in the conclusion
of a message to the governor on the subject of Indian
complaints, observed ; " To obviate which cause of

344 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
their discontent, and effectuall} .o establish between
them and his Majesty's subjects a durable peace, we
are of opinion, that a speedy confirraation of the boun
dary, and a just satisfaction raade to thera for theh
lands on this side of it, are absolutely necessary. By
this raeans aU their present complaints of encroachments
wUl be removed, and the people on our frontiers wiU
have a sufficient country to settle or hunt in, without
interfering with them."
On the 19th of January,- 1768, Mr. GaUoway, the
Speaker of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, and the
committee of correspondence, wrote on the subject of
the Indians' disquietude, by order of the House, to
their agents, Richard Jackson and Benjamin Franklin,
in London, and therein they said, " That the delay of
the confirraation of the boundary the natives have
warmly complained of, and that, although they have
received no consideration for the lands agreed to be
ceded to the crown on our side of the boundary, yet
that its subjects are daily settUng and occupying those
very lands."
In April, 1768, the legislature of Pennsylvania find
ing that the expectations of an Indian war were hourly
increasing, occasioned by the settieraent of the lands
over the raountains, not sold by the natives, and flat
tering themselves that orders would soon arrive from
England for the perfection of the boundary Une, they
voted the sum of one thousand pounds, to be given as
a present, in blankets, strouds, &.C., to the Indians upon
the Ohio, with a view of moderating their resentment,
until these orders should arrive. And, the governor of
Pennsylvania being informed that a treaty was soon
to be held at Fort Pitt by George Croghan, deputy
agent of Indian affairs, by order of General Gage and
Sir WiUiam Johnson, he sent his secretary and another

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 345
gentleman, as commissioners from the province, to de
Uver the above present to the Indians at Fort Pitt.
On the 2d of May, 1768, the Six Nations made the
foUowing speech at that conference.
"Brother,
"It is not without grief, that we see our country
settied by you, without our knowledge or consent ;
and it is a long time since we coraplained to you of
this grievance, which we find has not as yet been re
dressed ; but settlements are stiU extending farther into
our country ; some of them are made directly on our
war-path, leading into our enemies' country, and we do
not like it. Brother, you have laws araong you to
govern your people by; and it wiU be the strongest
proof of the sincerity of your friendship, to let us see
that you remove the people from our lands; as we
look upon it, they wUl have time enough to settie them,
when you have purchased them, and the country be
comes yours."
The Pennsylvania commissioners, in answer to this
speech, informed the Six Nations, that the governor
of that province had sent four gentiemen with his
proclamation and the act of assembly (making it felony
of death without benefit of clergy, to continue on In
dian lands) to such settlers over the mountains, as were
seated within the Umits of Pennsylvania, requiring them
to vacate their settlements, but all to no avaU ; that
the governor of Virginia had hkewise, to as Uttle pur
pose, issued his proclamations and orders ; and that
General Gage had twice ineffectuaUy sent parties of
soldiers to reraove the settlers frora Red-Stone Creek
and Monongahela,
As soon as Mr. Jackson and Dr. FrankUn received
the foregoing instructions frora the General Assembly
VOL. IV. 44

346 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
of Pennsylvania, they waited upon the American minis
ter, and urged the expediency and necessity of the
boundary line being speedily concluded ; and, in con
sequence thereof, additional orders were imraediately
transraitted to Sir WiUiam Johnson for that purpose.
It is plain, therefore, that the proclamation of Octo
ber, 1763, was not designed, as the Lords Commission
ers for Trade and Plantations have suggested, to signify
the policy of this kingdom against settieraents over the
Allegany Mountains,, after the King had actually pur
chased the territory; and that the true reasons for
purchasing the lands comprised within that boundary
were to avoid an Indian rupture, and give an opportu
nity to the King's subjects quietly and lawfuUy to
settie thereon.
V. Whether the Lords Commissioners for Trade
and Plantations are well founded in their declarations,
that the lands under consideration " are out of aU ad
vantageous intercourse with this kingdom," shaU be
fully considered in our observations on the sixth para-
grap'h ; and, as to " the various propositions for erect
ing new colonies in the interior parts, which, their Lord
ships say, have been, in consequence of the extension
of the boundary line, submitted to the consideration of
governraent, particularly in that part of the country,
wherein are situated the lands now prayed for, and the
danger of coraplying with such proposals have been so
obvious as to defeat every atterapt for carrying them
into execution," we shall only observe on this para
graph, that, as we do not know what these propositions
were, or upon what principle the proposers have been
defeated, it is irapossible for us to judge, whether they
are any ways appUcable to our case. Consistent how
ever with our knowledge, no more than one proposition
for the settiement of a part of the lands in question,

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 347
has been presented to government, and that was fi'om
Dr. Lee, thirty-two other Araericans, and two London
ers, in die year 1768, praying that his Majesty would
grant to them, without any purchase money, two mU-
hons five hundred thousand acres of land, in one or
more surveys, to be located between the thhty-eighth
and forty-second degrees of latitude, over the Aflegany
Mountains, and on condition of theh possessing these
lands twelve years without the payment of any quit-rent,
(the same not to begin untfl the whole two mUlions five
hundred thousand acres were surveyed,) and that they
should be obUged to settie two hundred families in
twelve years. Surely, the Lords Commissioners did
not mean this proposition, as one that was simUar, and
would apply to the case now reported upon ; and es
peciaUy as Dr. Lee and his associates did not propose,
as we do, either to purchase the lands, or pay the quit-
rents to his Majesty, neat and clear of afl deductions,
or be at the whole expense of estabUshing and main
taining the civfl government of the country.
VI. In the sixth paragraph the Lords Commission
ers observe, that "every argument on the subject, re
specting the settieraent of the lands m that part of the
country now prayed for, is coUected together with great
force and precision in a representation made to his
Majesty by the Lords Commissioners for Trade and
Plantations, in March, 1768."
That it may be clearly understood, what was the
occasion of this representation, we shaU take the Ub
erty of mentionmg, that, on the 1st of October, 1767,
and during the time that the Earl of Shelbtune was
Secretary of State for the southem department, an
idea was entertained of forming, "at the expense of
the crown," three new govemments in North America,
viz. one at Detroit, on the waters between Lake Huron

348 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
and Lake Erie, one in the Illinois country, and one on
the lower part of the river Ohio ; and, in consequence
of such idea, a reference was raade by his Lordship to
the Lords Comraissioners for Trade and Plantations, for
their opinion upon these proposed new govemraents.
Having explained the cause of the representation,
which is so very strongly and earnestly insisted upon by
the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, as
containing " every argument on the subject of the lands
which is at present before your Lordships " ; we shaU
now give our reasons for apprehending, that it is so far
frora applying against our case, that it actually declares
a perraission would be given to settie the very lands in
question. Three principal reasons are assigned in the repre
sentation, "as conducive to the great object of colo
nizing upon the continent of North America, viz.
"First, Promoting the advantageous fishery carried
on upon the northern coast.
" Secondly, Encouraging the growth and culture of
naval stores, and of raw raaterials, to be transported
hither, in exchange for perfect raanufactures and other
raerchandise. "Thirdly, Securing a supply of lumber, provisions,
and other necessaries, for the support of our estabUsh
raents in the American islands."
On the first of these reasons, we apprehend, it is not
necessary for us to raake raany observations ; as the
provinces of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and
Virginia, and the colonies southward of thera, have not,
and from the nature of their situation and commerce
wUl not, promote the fishery, raore, it is conceived, than
the proposed Ohio colony. These provinces are, how
ever, beneficial to this kingdora in culture and expor
tation of different articles ; as it is humbly presumed the

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 349
Ohio colony will likewise be, if the production of staple
commodities is allowed to be within that description.
On the second and third general reasons of the rep
resentation we shall observe, that no part of his Maj
esty's dorainions in North America wiU require less
encouragement "for the growth and culture of naval
stores and raw materials, and for the supplying the
islands with luraber, provisions," &:c., than thfe sohcited
colony on the Ohio; and for the foUowing reasons.
First, The lands in question are excellent, the cU
mate temperate ; the native grapes, silk-worms, and
mulberry trees are everywhere ; hemp grows sponta
neously in the vaUeys and low lands ; iron ore is plenty
in the hiUs ; and no soil is better adapted for the cul
ture of tobacco, flax, and cotton, than that of the Ohio.
Secondly, The country is well watered by several
navigable rivers, communicating with each other; and
by which, and a short land carriage of only forty railes,
the produce of the lands of the Ohio can, even now,
be sent cheaper to the seaport town of Alexandria, on
the river Potoraac (where General Braddock'^s trans
ports landed his troops), than any kind of raerchandise
is at this time sent from Northampton to London.
Thirdly, The river Ohio is, at aU seasons of the
year, navigable for large boats, like the west country
barges, rowed only by four or five men ; and, from Jan
uary to the raonth of April, large ships raay be built on
the Ohio, and sent laden with herap, iron, flax, sUk,
&c., to this kingdom.
Fourthly, Flour, com, beef, ship-plank, and other
necessaries can be sent down the stream of Ohio to
West Florida, and frora thence to the islands, much
cheaper and in better order, than from New York or
PhUadelphia. Fifthly, Hemp, tobacco, iron, and such bulky articles
VOL. IV. DD

350 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
can also be sent down the stream of the Ohio to the
sea, at least fifty per centum cheaper than these articles
were ever carried by a land carriage, of only sixty
mUes, in Pennsylvania; where wagonage is cheaper
than in any other part of North Araerica.
Sixthly, The expense of transporting British raanu
factures frora the sea to the Ohio colony wifl not be
so rauch, as is now paid, and raust ever be paid, to a
great part of the counties of Pennsylvania, Vhginia,
and Maryland.
Frora this state of facts, we apprehend, it is clear,
that the lands in question are altogether capable, and
wifl advantageously adrait, from their fertiUty, situation,
and the smafl expense attending the exporting the pro
duce of them to this kingdom, "of conducing to the
great object of colonizing upon the continent of North
Araerica;" but, that we raay raore particularly eluci
date this important point, we shall take the freedom of
observing, that it is not disputed, but even acknowl
edged, by the very Report now under consideration, that
the cUmate and soil of the Ohio are as favorable as we
have described thera ; and, as to the native silk-worras,
it is a truth, that above ten thousand weight of co
coons was, in August, 1771, sold at the public filature
in Philadelphia ; and that the sUk produced frora the
native worra is of a good quality, and has been much
approved of in this city.
As to hemp, we are ready to make it appear, that it
grows, as we have represented, spontaneously, and of a
good texture, on the Ohio. When, therefore, the in
creasing dependence of this kingdom upon Russia for
this very article is considered, and that none has been
exported from the seacoast Araerican colonies, as their
soU will not easily produce it, this dependence raust
surely be admitted as a subject of great national con-

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 351
sequence, and worthy of the serious attention of gov
emment. Nature has pointed out to us, Avhere any
quantity of hemp can be soon and easUy raised ; and
by that raeans, not only a lai-ge amount of specie may
be retained yeai-ly in this kingdom, but our own sub
jects can be employed most advantageously, and paid
in the raanufactures of this kingdom. The state of the
Russian trade is briefly thus ;
From the year 17-2-2 to 1731, two hun
dred and fifty ships were, on a medium,
sent each year to St. Petersburg, Narva,
Riga, and Archangel, for herap . . . 250 ships.
And from die year 1762 to 1771, five
hundred ships were also sent for that
purpose  ' . . . 500
Increase in ten years  250 ships.
Here then, it is obvious, that m the last ten years
there was on a mediura, an increase of two hundred
and fifty ships in the Russian trade. Can it be con
sistent with die wisdora and pohcy of the greatest
naval and commercial nation in the world, to depend
wholly on foreigners for the supply of an article, in
which is included the very existence of her navy and
commerce? Surely not; and especiaUy when God
has blessed us with a countiy jielding naturaUy the
very commodity, which draws our money fit)m us, and
renders us dependent on Russia for it*
• "It is in settlements on the Misassippi and Ohio, that we must look
for hemp and flax, which may in those fertile tracts be cultivated in snch
ahundtmco, as to enahie us to undereel all the world, as well as supply
our own consumption. It is on those high, dry. and healthy lands, that
vineyards would be cultivated to the best advantage, as many of those
hills contain quarries of stone ; and not in the low, unhealthy seacoasts
of our present colonies. Of such infinite consequence to Britain is the
production of staples in her colonies, that, were all the people of the

352 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
As we have only hitherto generally stated the smafl
expense of carriage between the waters of Potoraac
and those of the Ohio, we shafl now endeavour to show
how very iU founded the Lords of Trade and Planta
tions are, in the fifth paragraph of their Report, viz.
that the lands in question " are out of aU advantageous
intercourse with this kingdora." In order, however,
that a proper opinion raay be forraed on this iraportant
article, we shaU take the Uberty of stating the particular
expense of carriage, even during the last French war,
when there was no back carriage frora Ohio to Alex
andria ; as it wiU be found, it was even then only about
a halfpenny per pound, as wUl appear frora the following
account, the truth of which we shafl fully ascertain, viz.
From Alexandria to Fort Curaberland, by
water, per cwt. . .  Is. 7d.
From Fort Cumberland to Red-Stone Creek,
at fourteen dollars per wagon-load, each
wagon carrying fifteen hundred weight, 4 2
5 9
Note. The distance was then seventy rafles ; but, by
a new wagon road, lately made, it is now but forty
mUes; a saving of course of above one half the
5s. 9d. is at present experienced.
If it is considered, that this rate of carriage was hi
time of war, and when there were no inhabitants on
northern settlements, and all of the tobacco ones {except those actually
employed in raising tobacco), now spread over those parts of our territo
ries to the southward and westward, and consequently employed in the
same raanner as the few are who do reside therein, Britain, in such a
case, would export to the amount of above nine millions more in manufac
tures, &c., than she does at present, without reckoning the infinite in
crease in public revenue, freight, and seamen, which would accrue. To
enlarge upon all the advantages of such a change, would be impertinence
itself." — Political Essays concerning the British Empire.

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 353
the Ohio, we cannot doubt but every inteUigent raind
wiU be satisfied, that it is now much less than is daily
paid in London for the carriage of coarse woollens,
cutiery, iron ware. See, frora several counties in Eng
land. The foUowing is the cost of carriage from Birming-
hara, &.C., viz.
From Bhrainghara to London, is . 4s. per cwt
Frora WalfaU in Staffordshire, . . 5
From Sheffield,  8
From Warrington,  7
If the lands which are at present under consideration
are, as the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Planta
tions say, " out of aU advantageous intercourse with this
kingdom," we are at a loss to conceive by what stand
ard that Board calculates the rate of "advantageous
intercourse." If the King's subjects, settied over the
AUegany Mountains, and on the Ohio, within the new
erected county of Bedford, in the province of Penn
sylvania, are altogether clothed with British manufac
tures, as is the case, is that country "out of aU advan
tageous intercourse with this kingdom " ? If merchants
in London ate now actuaUy shipping British manufac
tures for the use of the very settiers on the lands in
question, does that exportation come within the Lords
Coraraissioners' description of what is "out of aU ad
vantageous intercourse with this kingdora " ? In short,
the Lords Coraraissioners adrait, upon their own princi
ples, that it is a poUtical and advantageous intercourse
with this kingdora, when the settlements and settiers
are confined to the eastern side of the AUegany Moun
tains. Shall, then, the expense of carriage, even of the
very coarsest and heaviest cloths, or other articles, from
the mountains to the Ohio, only about seventy mUes,
and which wiU not at raost increase the price of carriage
VOL. IV. 45 DD*

354 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
above a halfpenny a yard, convert the trade and con
nexion with the settlers on the Ohio into a predicaraenl
"that shafl be," as the Lords Coraraissioners have
said, "out of afl advantageous intercourse with this
kingdora " ?
On the whole, "if the poor Indians in the reraote
parts of North Araerica, are now able to pay for the
linens, wooUens, and iron ware they are furnished with
by English traders, though Indians have nothing but
what they get by hunting, and the goods are loaded
with all the impositions fraud and knavery can contrive,
to enhance their value ; wiU not industrious EngUsh
farraers," employed in the culture of hemp, flax, sflk,
&c., " be able to pay for what shall be brought to thera
in the fair way of coraraerce ; " and especiaUy when it
is remembered, that there is no other allowable market
for the sale of these articles, than in this kingdom?
And if " the growths of the country find their way out
of it, will not the manufactures of this kingdom, where
the hemp, &c. raust be sent to, find their way into it ? "
Whether Nova Scotia, and East and West Florida
have yielded advantages and returns equal to the enor
raous sums expended in founding and supporting them,
or even advantages, such as the Lords Commissioners
for Trade and Plantations, in their representation of
1768, seemed to expect, it is not our business to in
vestigate ; it is, we presume, sufficient for us to men
tion, that those " many principal persons in Pennsylva
nia," as is observed in the representation, "whose
names and association lie before your Majesty in Coun
cil, for the purpose of raaking settieraents in Nova
Scotia," have, several years since, been convinced of
the impracticabihty of exciting settlers to move from the
middle colonies and settle in that province ; and even
of those who were prevaUed on to go to Nova Scotia,

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 355
the greater part of them returned with great complaints
against the severity and length of the winters.
As to East and West Florida, it is, we are persuaded,
morally impossible to force the people of the middle
provinces, between thirty-seven and forty degrees north
latitude (where there is plenty of vacant land in theh
own teraperate climate) to reraove to the scorching, un
wholesorae heats of those provinces.* The inhabkants
of MontpeUier raight as soon and easily be persuaded
to reraove to the northern parts of Russia, or to Sen
egal. In short, it is contending wkh nature, and the ex
perience of aU ages, to atterapt to compel a people,
born and living in a temperate cUmate, and in the
neighbourhood of a rich, healthful, and uncultivated
country, to travel several hundred miles to a seaport in
order to raake a voyage to sea, and settie either in ex
treme hot or cold latitudes. If the county of York was
vacant and uncultivated, and the more southem inhab
itants of this island were in want of land, would they
suffer themselves to be driven to the north of Scotland ?
Would they not, in spite of aU opposition, first possess
themselves of that fertUe county ? Thus much we have
thought necessary to remark, in respect to the gener
al principles laid down in the representation of 1768;
and we hope we have shown, that the arguments
therein made use of, do not in any degree railkate
* " We think of nothing but extending our settlements still further on
these pestiferous seacoasts, even to the sunken lagunes of East Florida,
and the barren sands of Mobile and Pensacola. The only use of new
settlements in North America is for the people in the northern and
other colomes, who want lands to make staple commodities for Britain,
to reraove to them ; but none will ever go to Florida, or thrive in it, more
than they have done in Carolina and Georgia. The climate of Florida
is more intemperate, the lands more barren, and the situation much
worse in every respect." — State of Great Britain and America, by Dr.
Mitchell.

356 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
against the subject in question; but that they were
intended and do solely apply to "new colonies pro
posed to be established," as the representation says,
"at an expense to this kingdora, at the distance of
above fifteen hundred miles frora the sea, which, from
their inabUity to find returns, wherewith to pay for the
manufactures of Great Britain, wiU be probably led to
raanufacture for themselves, as they would," continues
the representation, "be separated frora the old colonies
by immense tracts of unpeopled desert."
It now only remains for us to inquire, whether it was
the intention of the Lords Commissioners for Trade
and Plantations in 1768, that the territory, which would
be included within the boundary line, then negotiating
with the Indians (and which was the one, that was that
year perfected) should continue a useless wUderness, or
be settled and occupied by his Majesty's subjects.
The very representation itself, which, the present
Lords Coraraissioners for Trade and Plantations say, con
tains " every argument on the subject," furnishes us an
araple and satisfactory solution to this iraportant question.
The Lords Commissioners in 1768, after pronouncing
their opinion against the proposed three new govern
ments, as above stated, declare, "They ought to be
carefuUy guarded against, by encouraging the settle
ment of that extensive tract of seacoast hitherto unoc
cupied; which," say their Lordships, "together with
the liberty the inhabkants of the middle colonies wiU
have (in consequence of the proposed boundary line
with the Indians) of gradually extending theraselves
backwards, wiU raore effectually and beneficially an
swer the object of encouraging population and con
sumption, than the erection of new governraents ; such
gradual extension raight, through the medium of a
continual population, upon even the same extent of

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 357
territory, preserve a coraraunication of rautual commer
cial benefits between its extremest parts and Great
Britain, impossible to exist in colonies separated by
imraense tracts of unpeopled desert."
Can any opinion be more clear and conclusive, in
favor of the proposition, which we have humbly sub
mitted to his Majesty ? For their Lordships positively
say, that the inhabitants of the middle colonies will have
Uberty of gradually extending themselves backwards.
But is it not very extraordinary, that, after near two
years' deliberation, the present Lords Commissioners
for Trade and Plantations should make a report to the
Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council, and
therein expressly refer to that opinion of 1768, in which
they say, "every argument on the subject is coUected
together with great force and precision," and yet that,
almost in the sarae breath, their Lordships should con
travene that very opinion, and advise his Majesty "to
check the progress of these settlements"? and that
" settieraents in that distant part of the country ought
to be discouraged as much as possible, and another
proclamation should be issued declaratory of his Majes
ty's resolution, not to aflow, for the present, any new
settlement beyond the line ; " to wit, beyond the AUe
gany Mountains? How strange and contradictory is
this conduct? But we forbear any strictures upon it;
and shaU conclude our reraarks on this head, by stating
the opinion, at different tiraes, of the Lords Corarais
sioners for Trade and Plantations, on this subject.
In 1748, their Lordships expressed the strongest
desire to promote settlements over the mountains and
on the Ohio.
In 1768, the then Lords Comraissioners for Trade
and Plantations declared, (in consequence of the boun
dary line at that time negotiating,) that the inhabitants

358 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
of the raiddle colonies would have Uberty of gradually
extending themselves backwards.
In 1770, the Earl of HiUsborough actually recom
mended the purchase of a tract of land over the raoun
tains, sufficient for a new colony, and then went down
to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury to know,
whether their Lordships would treat with Mr. Walpole
and his associates for such purchase.
In 1772, the Earl of HUlsborough, and the other
Lords Coraraissioners for Trade and Plantations, raade
a report on the petition of Mr. Walpole and his asso
ciates, and referred to the representation of the Board
of Trade in 1768, "as containing every arguraent on
the subject, coUected together with force and pre
cision;" which representation declared, as we have
shown, "that the inhabitants of the raiddle colonies
wiU have liberty to extend backwards " on the identi
cal lands in question ; and yet, notwithstanding such
reference, so strongly made from the present Board of
Trade to the opinion of that Board, the Earl of HiUs
borough and the other Lords Comraissioners for Trade
and Plantations have now, in direct terras, reported
against the absolute engageraent and opinion of the
Board in 1768.
It raay be asked, what was intended by the expres
sions in the representation of 1768, "of gradually ex
tending themselves backwards "? It is answered, they
were only in contradistinction to the proposal of erect
ing at that time three new governraents at Detroit, &c.;
and "thereby exciting," as the representation says,
" the stream of population to various distant places." In
short, it was, we think, beyond aU doubt, the " precise "
opinion of the Lords Coraraissioners in 1768, that the
territory, within the boundary Une then negotiating and
since completed, would be sufficient at that time to

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 359
answer the object of population and consuraptien ; and
that, untU that territory was fuUy occupied, it was not
necessary to erect the proposed three new governraents
" at an expense to this kingdom," in places, as theh
Lordships observed, " separated by imraense tracts of
unpeopled desert."
To conclude our observations on the sixth paragraph,
we would just reraark, that we presurae we have
demonstrated, that the inhabitants of the middle colo
nies cannot be compeUed to exchange the soU and cU
mate of these colonies, either for the severe colds of
Nova Scotia and Canada, or the unwholesome heats of
East and West Florida. Let us next inquire, what
would be the effect of confining these inhabitants, if it
was practicable, vidthin narrow bounds, and thereby
preventmg them from exercising their natural inclina
tion of cultivating lands ; and whether such restriction
would not force them into raanufactures, to rival the
raother country. To these questions, the Lords Cora
raissioners have with rauch candor repUed, in their rep
resentation of 1768. "We admit," said their Lord
ships, " as an undeniable principle of true poUcy, that,
with a view to prevent manufactures, it is necessary
and proper to open an extent of territory for coloniza
tion, proportioned to an increase of people, as a large
number of inhabitants, cooped up in narrow limits,
without a sufficiency of land for produce, would be
corapeUed to convert their attention and industry to
raanufactures." But their Lordships at the same time
observe, " That the encouragement given to the settle
ment of the colonies upon the seacoast, and the effect
which such encourageraent has had, has already effec
tually provided for this object."
In what parts of North Araerica this encourageraent
has thus provided for population, their Lordships have

360 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
not raentioned. If the establishraent of the govem
ments of Quebec, Nova Scotia, and the Island of St.
John's, or East and West Florida, was intended by
their Lordships as that effectual provision, we shaU
presume to deny the proposition, by asserting, as an
undoubted truth, that, although there is at least a
raUlion of subjects in the middle colonies, none have
eraigrated from thence, and settied in these new prov
inces ; and for that reason, and from the very nature of
colonization itself, we affirm, that none wiU ever be
induced to exchange the healthy, temperate climate of
Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, for the extreme
colds or heats of Canada and Nova Scotia, or East and
West Florida.
In short, it is not in the power of govemment, to
give any encouragement, that can compensate for a de
sertion of friends and neighbours, dissolution of family
connexions, and abandoning a soU and climate infinitely
superior to those of Canada, Nova Scotia, or the Flor
idas. WiU not therefore the inhabitants of the middle
provinces, whose population is great beyond example,*
and who have already made some advances in manu
factures, "by confining them to theh present narrow
limits," be necessarily compeUed to convert their whole
attention to that object ? How then shaU this, in the
nature of things, be prevented, except, as the Lords
Commissioners have justly reraarked, "by opening an
extent of territory proportioned to their increase ? " But

* " Besides staple commodities, there is another more material point
to be considered in the colonies, which is their great and daily increase ;
and for which, unless we make provision in time, they can never sub
sist by a dependence on Britain. There are at present (in the year
1770) nigh three millions of people in them, who may, in twenty or
tlurty years, increase to six millions, as many as there are in England."
¦— WYnNk's History of the British Empire in Ameiica, Vol. II. p. 398.

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 361
where shafl a territory be found proper for " the colo
nization of the inhabitants of the raiddle colonies?"
We answer, in the very country, which the Lords
Coraraissioners have said that the inhabitants of these
colonies would have Uberty to setfle in; a country
which his Majesty has purchased frora the Six Na
tions ; one where several thousands of his subjects are
already settled ; and one where, the Lords Corarais
sioners have acknowledged, " a gradual extension might,
through the mediura of a continued population, upon
even the sarae extent of territory, preserve a corarau
nication of rautual coraraercial benefits between its ex-
treraest parts and Great Britain." *
VII. This paragraph is introduced, by referring to
the extract of a letter frora the coramander-in-chief of
his Majesty's forces in North America, laid by the Earl
of HiUsborough before the Lords Commissioners for
Trade and Plantations. But, as their Lordships have
not raentioned either the general's name, or the tirae
when the letter was written, or what occasioned his
delivering his opinion upon the subject of colonization
in general, in the "remote countries," we can only
conjecture, that General Gage was the writer of the
letter, and that it was wrote about the year 1768, when
the plan of the three new governments was under the
consideration of the then Lords Commissioners for
* " Thus the use the nation has for new settlements and acquisitions m
North America is for the great increase of the people who are already
there, and to enable them to subsist by a dependence upon her ; which
they can never do, unless they extend their settlements." — Wtjvne's His
tory, Vol. II. p. 399.
" Unprejudiced men well know, that all the penal and prohibitory laws
that ever were thought of, will not be sufficient to prevent manufactures
in a country whose inhabitants surpass the number that can subsist on
the husbandry of it ; and this will be the case soon, if our people remain
confined within the mountains," &c. — The Interest of Great Britain
considered urith regard to the Colonies, p. 17. Published in 1761.
VOL. IV. 46 EE

362 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Trade and Plantations, and before the lands on the
Ohio were bought frora, and the boundary hne estab
Ushed with, the Six Nations.
Indeed, we think it clear, that the general had no
other lands, at that time, under his consideration, than
what he caUs "reraote countries," such as the Detroit,
IlUnois, and the lower parts of the Ohio ; for he speaks
of " foreign countries," from which it " would be too far
to transport some kind of naval stores," and for the
sarae reason could not, he says, supply the sugar
islands "with luraber and provisions." He mentions,
also, " planting colonies at so vast a distance, that the
very long transportation (of silk, wine, &c.) raust prob
ably make thera too dear for any raarket," and where
"the inhabitants could not have any coraraodities to bar
ter for manufactures, except skins and furs." And
what, in our opinion, fully evinces that the general
was giving his sentiments upon settieraents at Detroit,
&c. and not on the territory in question, is, that he
says, " It wiU be a question Ukewise, whether coloniza
tion of this kind could be effected without an Indian
war, and fighting for every inch of the ground."
Why the Lords Coraraissioners for Trade and Plan
tations should encuraber their Report with the opinion
of General Gage on what he calls the settleraent of a
"foreign country," that could not be effected without
" fighting for every inch of ground," and how their
Lordships could apply that case to the settieraent of a
territory, purchased by his Majesty near four years ago,
and now inhabited by several thousand British subjects,
whora the Indians theraselves living on the northern
side of the Ohio (as shaU be fully shown in the course
of these observations) have earnestly requested may be
iraraediately governed, we confess we are whoUy at a
loss to coraprehend.

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 363
VIII. The eighth paragraph highly extols, not only
the accuracy and precision of the foregoing represen
tation of the Lords of Trade in 1768, (which, as has
been before observed, expressed, that the inhabitants
of the middle colonies would have liberty to settie over
the raountains and on the Ohio,) but also the above-
mentioned letter from the comraander-in-chief in Araer
ica; and at the same time introduces the sentiraents
of Mr. Wright, govemor of Georgia, "on the subject
of large grants in the interior parts of Araerica."
When this letter was written ; what was the occa
sion of the governor's writing it ; whether he was then,
frora his own knowledge, acquainted with the situation
of the country over the mountains, with the disposition
of the middle colonies, with the capabiUty of the Ohio
country, from its soil, cUmate, or coraraunication with
the River Potoraac, &c., to supply this kingdora with
sUk, flax, hemp, &lc. ; and whether the principal part
of Mr. Wright's estate is on the seacoast in Georgia,
are facts which we wish had been stated, that it might
be known whether Governor Wright's "knowledge and
experience in the affairs of the colonies ought," as the
Lords of Trade mention, "to give great weight to his
opinion," on the present occasion.
The doctrine insisted upon by Governor Wright ap
pears to us reducible to the foUowing propositions; viz.
1. That if a vast territory be granted to any set of
gentlemen, who really mean to people it, and actually
do so, it must draw and carry out a great number of
people from Great Britain.
2. That they wUl soon becorae a kind of separate
and independent people; who wUl set up for them
selves, wiU soon have manufactures of their own, wUl
neither take supplies frora the mother country, nor the
provinces at the back of which they are settied ; that.

364 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
being at such a distance from the seat of government,
from courts, magistrates, &c., and out of the control of
law and governraent, they wiU becorae a receptacle for
offenders, &,c.
3. That the seacoast should be thick settled with
inhabitants, and be weU cultivated and iraproved, &c.
4. That his ideas are not chimerical ; that he knows
soraething of the situation and state of things in Araer
ica ; and, frora sorae Uttle occurrences that have hap
pened, he can very easily figure to himself what may,
and, in short, what wiU certainly happen, if not pre
vented in time.
On these propositions we shafl take the liberty of
making a few observations.
To the first we answer, we shall, we are persuaded,
satisfactorily prove, that in the raiddle colonies, viz.
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, • and Virginia,
there is hardly any vacant land, except such as is mo
nopolized by great landholders, for the purpose of
seUing at high prices ; that the poor people of these
colonies, with large famUies of children, cannot pay
these prices ; and that several thousand families, for that
reason, have already settled upon the Ohio ; that we
do not wish for, and shaU not encourage, one single
faraily of his Majesty's European subjects to settle
there, (and this we have no objection to be prevented
frora doing,) but shaU whoUy rely on the voluntary
superflux of the inhabitants of the raiddle provinces for
settling and cultivating the lands in question.
On the second, it is not, we presurae, necessary for
us to say more, than that all the conjectures and sup
positions " of being a kind of separate and independ
ent people," &c. entirely lose their force, on the prop
osition of a govemraent being established on the grant
applied for, as the Lords of Trade theraselves acknowl
edged.

OHIO SETTLEMENT, 365
On the thhd, we would only briefly remark, that we
have fully answered this objection in the latter part of
our answer to the sixth paragraph.
And, as the fourth proposition is merely the gover
nor's declaration of his knowledge of something of the
situation and state of things in Araerica, and that,
from some little occurrences, that have already really
happened, he can very easily figure to himself what
may and wUl certainly happen, if not prevented in tirae,
we say, that, as the governor has not raentioned what
these Uttle occurrences are, we cannot pretend to judge,
whether what he figures to hiraself is any ways rela
tive to the object under consideration, or, indeed, what
else it is relative to.
But, as the Lords Comraissioners for Trade and
Plantations have thought proper to insert in their Re
port the aboveraentioned letters frora General Gage and
Governor Wright, it raay not be iraproper for us to
give the opinion of his Majesty's House of Burgesses
of the dominion of Virginia on the very point in ques
tion, as conveyed to his Majesty in theh Address of
the 4th of August, 1767, and deUvered the latter end of
that year, to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and
Plantations, by Mr. Montague, agent for the colony.
The House of Burgesses say ; " We humbly hope,
that we shall obtain your royal indulgence, when we
give it as our opinion, that it wUl be for your Majesty's
service, and the interest of your American dominions
in general, to continue the encouragements" (which
were a total exemption from any consideration-money
whatsoever, and a remission of quit-rent for ten years,
and of aU kinds of taxes for fifteen years) " for settling
those frontier lands." By this raeans, the House ob
served, " new settleraents wiU be raade by people of
property, obedient subjects to governraent ; but, if the

366 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
present restriction should continue, we have the strong
est reason to believe, that country wiU become the re
sort of fugkives and vagabonds, defiers of law and
order, and who in tirae may form a body dangerous to
the peace and civil government of this colony."
We come now to the consideration of the ninth,
tenth, and eleventh paragraphs.
In the ninth, the Lords Commissioners for Trade
and Plantations observe, "that, admitting the settlers
over the mountains, and on the Ohio, to be as numer
ous as report states thera to be," (and which we shall,
frora undoubted testiraony, prove to be not less than
five thousand faraiUes, of at least six persons to a fara
ily, independent of sorae thousand faraiUes, which are
also settled over the raountains, within the Umits of the
province of Pennsylvania,) yet their Lordships say, "it
operates strongly in point of argument against what is
proposed." And their Lordships add, " If the foregoing
reasoning has any weight, it ought certainly to induce
the Lords of the committee of the Privy CouncU to
advise his Majesty to take every raethod to check the
progress of these settleraents ; and not to make such
grants of the land, as wiU have an immediate tendency
to encourage thera."
Having, we presurae, clearly shown, that the country
southward of the Great Kenhawa, quite to the Chero
kee River, belonged to the Six Nations, and not to
the Cherokees ; that now it belongs to the King, in
virtue of his Majesty's purchase from the Six Nations ;
that neither these tribes, nor the Cherokees, do hunt
between the Great Kenhawa and the land opposite to
the Scioto River ; that, by the present boundary line,
the Lords Comraissioners for Trade and Plantations
would sacrifice to the Cherokees an extent of country
of at least eight hundred raUes in length, which his

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 367
Majesty has bought and paid for; that the real liraits
of Virginia do not extend westward, beyond the AUe
gany raountains ; that, since the purchase of the coun
try frora the Six Nations, his Majesty has not annexed
it, nor any part of it, to the colony of Virginia ; that
there are no settieraents raade under legal tities, on
any part of the lands we have agreed for, with the
Lords Comraissioners of the Treasury ; that, in the year
1748, the strongest marks of royal encouragement were
given to settie the country over the mountains ; that
the suspension of this encouragement, by the procla
mation of October, 1763, was merely temporary, untU
the lands were purchased frora the natives ; that the
avidity to settie these lands was so great, that large
settleraents were raade thereon, before they were pur
chased ; that, although the settlers were daily exposed
to the cruelties of the savages, neither a raUitary force,
nor repeated proclamations, could induce them to va
cate these lands ; that the soU of the country over
the mountains is exceUent, and capable of easily pro
ducing herap, flax, silk, tobacco, iron, wine, &c. ; that
these articles can be cheaply conveyed to a seaport for
exportation; that the charge of carriage is so very
sraall, it cannot possibly operate to the prevention of
the use of British raanufactures ; that the King's pur
chasing the lands frora the Indians, and fixing a boun
dary line with thera, was for the very purpose of his
subjects' settling thera; and that the Coraraissioners
for Trade and Plantations, m 1768, declared, that the
inhabkants of the raiddle colonies would have Uberty
for that purpose.
And to this train qf facts, let us add, that at the con
gress held with the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix in
1768, when his Majesty purchased the territory on the
Ohio, Messrs. Penn also bought from these Nations a

368 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
very extensive tract of country over the AUegany
Mountains, and on that river joining to the very lands
in question ; that in the spring 1 769, Messrs. Penn
opened their land-office in Pennsylvania, for the set
tiing the country which they had so bought at Fort
Stanwix ; and aU such settiers as had seated them
selves over the mountains, within the limits of Penn
sylvania, before the lands were purchased from the
natives, have since obtained titles for theh plantations ;
that, in 1771, a petition was presented to the Asserably
of the province of Pennsylvania, praying that a new
county raay be made over these mountains ; that the
legislature of that province, in consideration of the great
number of famiUes settied there, within the Uraits of
that province, did that year enact a law for the erection
of the lands over the raountains into a new county,
by the narae of Bedford county ; that, in consequence
of such law, WilUara Thompson was chosen to repre
sent it in the General Assembly ; that a sheriff, coro
ner, justices of the peace, constables, and other civfl
officers are appointed and do reside over the raoun
tains ; that afl the King's subjects, who are not less
than five thousand faraiUes, who have raade locations
and settieraents on the lands southward of, and adjoin
ing to, the southern line of Pennsylvania, Uve there
without any degree of order, law, or governraent ; that,
being in this lawless situation, continual quarrels prevafl
among them ; that they have already mfrmged the
boundary line, kifled several Indians, and encroached
on the lands on the opposite side of the Ohio ; and
that disorders of the most dangerous nature, with re
spect to the Indians, the boundary Une, and the old
colonies, wifl soon take place araong these settiers, if
law and subordination are not iramediately established
among them. Can these facts be possibly perverted

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 369
SO as to operate, either in point of argument or poUcy,
against the proposition of governing the King's sub
jects on the lands in question?
It ought to be considered, also, that we have agreed
to pay as much for a smafl partof the cession made at
Fort Stanwix, as the whole cession cost the crown, and
at the same time to be at the entire expense of es
tablishing and supporting the proposed new colony.*
The truth is, the inhabitants already settled on this
tract of country are in so ungoverned and lawless a
situation, that the very Indians themselves complain of
it; so that, if they are not soon governed, an Indian
war wifl be the inevitable consequence. This, we pre
surae, is evident, both from the correspondence of Gen
eral Gage with the 'Earl of HUlsborough, and a speech
of the chiefs of the Delawares, Munsies, and Mohickons,
Uving on the Ohio, to the governors of Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and Virginia, lately transmitted by the Gen
eral to his Lordship.
In this speech these nations observe, that, since the
* The parliamentary grants for the civil establishment of the provinces
of Nova Scotia, Georgia, and East and West Florida, amount to one
million twelve thousand eight hundred and thirty-one pounds iwo shillings
and eight pence halfpenny, as the following account shows ; and, not
withstanding this vast expense, the King has not received any quit-
rents from these provinces. How different is the present proposition,
for the estabhshment of the Ohio colony ? In this case, the crown is to
be paid for the lands, (and which is the first instance of any being sold
in North America.) Government is to be exempted from the expense
of supporting the colony, and the King wiU receive his quit-rents, neat
and clear of all deductions, (which deductions in the old colonies are at
least twenty per centum,) as will more particularly appear by a state of
the King's quit-rents annexed hereto.
The parhamentary grants above raentioned are as follows ;
To Nova Scotia ... £ 707,320 19s. 7id.
To Georgia  214,610 3 li
To East Florida .... 45,450
To West Florida .... 45,450
See Appendix, No. H. p. 380.
VOL. IV. 47

370 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
sale of the lands to the King on the Ohio, "Great
nurabers raore of your people have corae over the great
raountains and settled throughout this country ; and we
are sorry to tell you, that several quarrels have hap
pened between your people and ours, in which people
have been killed on both sides ; and that Ave now see
the nations round us and your people ready to erabroU
in a quarrel, which gives our nations great concem, as
we, on our parts, want to Uve in friendship with you.
As you have always told us, you have laws to govem
your people by, but we do not see that you have;
therefore, brethren, unless you can faU upon some raethod
of governing your people, who live between the great
raountains and the Ohio River, and who are very nu
raerous, it wiU be out of the Indialns' power to govern
their young men ; for, we assure you, the black clouds
begin to gather fast in this country, and, if some
thing is not soon done, these clouds wUl deprive us of
seeing the sun. We desire you to give the greatest
attention to what we now tell you ; as it comes from
our hearts, and a desire we have to Uve in peace and
friendship with our brethren the EngUsh, and therefore
it grieves us to see sorae of the nations about us and
your people ready to strike each other. We find your
people are very fond of our rich land; we see them
quarreUing with each other every day about land, and
burning one another's houses, so that we do not know
how soon they may come over the River Ohio, and
drive us from our viUages ; nor do we see you, brothers,
take any care to stop them."
This speech, from tribes of such great influence and
weight upon the Ohio, conveys rauch useful informa
tion ; it establishes the fact of the settiers over the
mountains being very nuraerous ; it shows the enthe
approbation of the Indians, in respect to a colony be-

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 371
ing established on the Ohio ; it patheticaUy coraplains
of the King's subjects not beiug governed; and it
confirras the assertion mentioned by the Lords Com
missioners for Trade and Plantations in the eighth par
agraph of theh Report, " that, if the settlers are suf
fered to continue in the lawless state of anarchy and
confusion, they wUl coramit such abuses as cannot fafl
of involving us in quarrels and disputes with the In
dians, and thereby endanger the security of his Majes
ty's colonies."
The Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations,
however, pay no regard to afl these chcumstances, but
content themselves with observing, "We see nothing
to hinder the governraent of Vhginia from extending
the laws and constitution of that colony to such per
sons as may have already settled there under legal
tities." To this we repeat, that there are no such per
sons, as have settled under legal tities ; and, even adrak-
ting there were, as their Lordships say, in the tenth
paragraph, "it appears in them, there are some posses
sions derived from grants raade by the governor and
councU of Vhginia," and aUowing that the laws and
constitution of Virginia did, as they unquestionably do
not, extend to this territory, have the Lords Corarais
sioners proposed any expedient for governing those
many thousand famUies, who have not settled under
legal tities, but only agreeably to the ancient usage of
location? Certainly not. But, on the contrary, theh
Lordships have recoraraended, that his Majesty should
be advised to take every method to check the progress
of their settlements ; and thereby leave them in their
present lawless skuation, at the risk of involving the
middle colonies in a war with the natives, pregnant with
a loss of subjects, loss of coraraerce, and depopulation
of their frontier counties.

372 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Having made these observations, it may next be
proper to consider, how the laws and constitution of
Virginia can possibly be extended, so as effectuaUy to
operate on the territory in question. Is not WiUiams
burg, the capital of Virginia, at least four hundred
ihUes from the settlements on the Ohio ? Do not the
laws of Vhginia require, that aU persons guUty of cap
ital crimes shaU be tried only in WilUamsburg ? Is not
the General Asserably held there ? Is not the court
of King's Bench, or the superior court of the dominion,
kept there ? Has Virginia provided any fund for the
support of the officers of these distant settlements, or
for the transporting offenders, and paying the expense
of witnesses travelUng eight hundred miles (viz. going
and returning), and during theh stay at WilUamsburg ?
And wUl not these settiers be exactly (for the rea
sons assigned) in the situation described by Governor
Wright, in the very letter which the Commissioners for
Trade and Plantations have so warraly recoraraended,
viz. "such persons as are settied at the back of the
provinces, bemg at a distance from the seat of govem
ment, courts, raagistrates, &c., they wUl be out of the
reach and control of law and govemraent, and theh
settlement wiU become a receptacle and a kind of asy
lum for offenders"?
On the eleventh paragraph, we apprehend, it is not
necessary to say rauch. The reservatory clause pro
posed in our memorial is what is usual m royal grants ;
and in the present case, the Lords of the comraittee of
the Privy CouncU, we hope, wUl be of opmion, it is
quke sufficient ; more especiaUy as we are able to prove
to theh Lordships, that there are no "possessions,"
within the boundaries of the lands under consideration,
which are held "under legal titles."
To conclude; as it has been demonstrated, that

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 373
neither royal nor provincial proclaraations, nor the dread
and horrors of a savage war, were sufficient, even be
fore the country was purchased frora the Indians, to
prevent the settleraent of the lands over the raoun
tains, can it be conceived, that, now the country is pur
chased, and the people have seen the proprietors of
Pennsylvania, who are the hereditary supporters of
British policy in their own province, give every degree
of encouragement to settie the lands westward of the
mountains, the legislature of the province, at the same
thne, effectually corroborate the raeasure, and several
thousand families, in consequence thereof, settle in the
new county of Bedford, that the inhabitants of the
raiddle colonies will be restrained from cultivating the
luxuriant country of the Ohio, joining to the southem
Une of Pennsylvania ? But, even adrakting that it raight
formerly have been a question of sorae propriety,
whether the country should be permitted to be settied,
that cannot surely become a subject of inquiry now,
when it is an obvious and certain truth, that at least
thirty thousand British subjects are already settled
there. Is it fit to leave such a body of people lawless
and ungoverned ? WiU sound poUcy recoraraend . this
raanner of colonizing and increasing the wealth, strength,
and coraraerce of the empire? Or wiU it point out,
that it is the indispensable duty of govemraent to ren
der bad subjects useful subjects ; and for that purpose
iramediately to estabUsh law and subordination araong
thera, and thereby early confirra their native attach
ment to the laws, traffic, and custoras of this kingdom ?
On the whole, we presume that we have, both by
facts and sound argument, shown, that the opinion of
the Lords Coraraissioners for Trade and Plantations on
the object in question is not well founded ; and that,
if their Lordships' opinion should be adopted, it would
VOL. IV. FF

374 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
be attended with the most mischievous and dangerous
consequences to the commerce, peace, and safety of his
Majesty's colonies in America.
We therefore hope, the expediency and utiUty of
erecting the lands agreed for into a separate colony,
without delay, wiU be considered as a measure of the
soundest policy, highly conducive to the peace and se
curity of the old colonies, to the preservation of the
boundary line, and to the comraercial interests of the
mother country.

APPENDIX, No. I.
BY THE KING.
A PROCLAMATION.
George R.
Whereas we have taken into our royal consideration the exten
sive and valuable acquisitions in America, secured to our crown by
the late definitive treaty of peace, concluded at Paris the 10th of
February last ; and being desirous, that all our loving subjects, as
well of our kingdoms as of our colonies in America, may avail
themselves, with all convenient speed, of the great benefits and ad
vantages which must accrue therefrom to their commerce, manufac
tures, and navigation ; wo have thought fit, with the advice of our
Privy Council, to issue this our royal proclamation, hereby to pub
lish and declare to all our loving subjects, that we have, with the
advice of our said Privy Council, granted our letters patent under
our great seal of Great Britain, to erect within the countries and
islands, ceded and confirmed to us by the said treaty, four distinct
and separate governments, styled and called by the names of Que
bec, East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada, and limited and
bounded as follows, viz.
Mrst, The government of Quebec, bounded on the Labrador
coast by the River St. John, and from thence by a line drawn from

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 375
the head of tnat river, through the Lake St. John, to the south end
of the Lake Nipissira ; from whence the said line, crossing the
River St. Lawrence and the Lake Champlain in forty-five degrees
of north latitude, passes along the highlands which divide the riv
ers that empty themselves into the said River St. Lawrence, from
those which fall into the sea ; and also along the north coast of the
Baie des Chaleurs, and the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to
Cape Rosieres, and from thence crossing the mouth of the River
St. Lawrence by the west end of the Island of Anticosti, terrainates
at the aforesaid River St. John.
Secondly, The government of East Florida, bounded to the west
ward by the Gulf of Mexico and the Appalachicola River ; tothe
northward, by a line drawn from that part of the said river where
the Chatahouchee and Flint Rivers meet, to the source of St. Mary's
River, and by the course of the said river to the Atlantic Ocean ;
and to the east and south by the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of
Florida, including all islands within six leagues of the seacoast.
Thirdly, The government of West Florida, bounded to the
southward by the Gulf of Mexico, including all islands within six
leagues of the coast from the River Appalachicola to Lake Pont
chartrain ; to the westward by the said lake, the Lake Maurepas,
and the River Mississippi ; to the northward, by a line drawn due
east from that part of the Mississippi which lies in thirty-one de
grees north latitude, to the River Appalachicola or Chatahouchee ;
and to the eastward by the said river.
Fourthly, The government of Grenada, comprehending the island
of that name, together with the Grenadines, and the Islands of Do
minico, St. Vincent, and Tobago.
And to the end that the open and free fishery of our subjects
may be extended to, and carried on, upon the coast of Labrador
and the adjacent islands, we have thought fit, with the advice of our
said Privy Council, to put all that coast, from the River St. John's
to Hudson's Straits, together with the Islands of Anticosti and
Madelaine, and all other sraaller islands lying upon the said coast,
under the care and inspection of our governor of Newfoundland.
We have also, with the advice of our Privy Council, thought fit
to annex the Islands of St. John and Cape Breton or Isle Royale,
with the lesser islands adjacent thereto, to our government of Nova
Scotia. We have also, with the advice of our Privy Council aforesaid,
annexed to our province of Georgia, all the lands lying between the
Rivers Altamaha and St. Mary's.

376 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
And whereas it will greatly contribute to the speedy settling our
said new governments, that our loving subjects should be informed
of our paternal care for the security of the liberties and properties
of those who are and shall become inhabitants thereof; we have
thought fit to publish and declare, by this our proclamation, that we
have, in the letters patent under our great seal of Great Britain, by
which the governments are constituted, given express power and
direction to our governors of our said colonies respectively, that, so
soon as the state and circumstances of the said colonies will admit
thereof, they shall, with the advice and consent of the members of
our council, summon and call General Asserablies within the said
governments respetitively, in such manner and form as is used and
directed in those colonies and provinces in America, which are un
der our immediate government. And we have also given power to
the said governors, with the consent of our said councils and the
representatives of the people, so to be summoned as aforesaid, to
make, constitute, and ordain laws, statutes, and ordinances for the
public peace, welfare, and good government of our said colonies,
and of the people and inhabitants thereof, as near as may be, agree
ably to the laws of England, and under such regulations and re
strictions as are used in other colonies ; and, in the mean time and
until such assemblies can be called as aforesaid, all persons inhab
iting in, or resorting to, our said colonies, may confide in our royal
protection for the enjoyment of the benefit of the laws of our realm
of England; for which purpose we have given power under our
great seal to the governors of our said colonies respectively, to erect
and constitute, with the advice of our said councils respectively,
courts of judicature and public justice within our said colonies, for
the hearing and determining all causes, as well criminal as civil,
according to law and equity, and, as near as may be, agreeably to
the laws of England ; with liberty to all persons, who may think
themselves aggrieved by the sentence of such courts, in all civil
cases, to appeal, under the usual limitations and restrictions, to us,
in our Privy Council.
We have also thought fit, with the advice of our Privy Council
as aforesaid, to give unto the governors and councils of our said
three new colonies upon the continent, full power and authority to
settle and agree with the inhabitants of our said new colonies, or
to any other person who shall resort thereto, for such lands, tene
ments, and hereditaments, as are now, or hereafter shall be in our
power to dispose of, and them to grant to any such person or per
sons, upon such terras, and under such moderate quit-rents, services,

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 377
and acknowledgments, as have been appointed and settled in other
colonies, and under such other conditions as shall appear to us to
be necessary and expedient for the advantage of the grantees, and
the improvement and settlement of our said colonies.
And whereas we are desirous, upon all occasions, to testify our
royal sense and approbation of the conduct and bravery of the offi
cers and soldiers of our armies, and to reward the same, we do
hereby command and empower our governors of our said three new
colonies, and other our governors of our several provinces on the
continent of North America, to grant, without fee or reward, to
such reduced officers as have served in North America during the
late war, and are actually residing there, and shall personally apply
for the same, the following quantities of land, subject, at the ex
piration of ten years, to the same quit-rents as other lands are sub
ject to in the province within which they are granted, as also sub
ject to the same conditions of cultivation and improvement, viz.
To every person having the rank of a field-officer, five thousand
acres. To every captain, three thousand acres.
To every subaltern or staff-officer, two thousand acres.
To every non-commissioned officer, two hundred acres.
To every private man, fifty acres. '
We do likewise authorize and require the governors and com
manders-in-chief of all our said colonies upon the continent of North
America to grant the like quantities of land, and upon the same
conditions, to such reduced officers of our navy of like rank, as
served on board our ships of war in North America at the times of
the reduction of Louisburg and Quebec in the late war, and who
shall personally apply to our respective governors for such grants.
And whereas it is just, and reasonable, and essential to our inter
est, and security of our colonies, that the several nations and tribes
of Indians, with whom we are connected, and who live under our
protection, should not be molested or disturbed in the possession
of such parts of our dominions and territories as, not having been
ceded to, or purchased by us, are reserved to them, or any of them,
as their hunting grounds ; we do therefore, with the advice of our
Privy Council, declare it to be our royal will and pleasure, that no
governor, or comraander-in-chief, in any of our colonies of Quebec,
East Florida, or West Florida, do presume, upon any pretence what
ever, to grant warrants of survey, or pass any patents, for lands beyond
the bounds of their respective governments, as described in their
commissions; as also that no governor or commander-in-chief of our
VOL. IV. 48 FF*

378 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
other colonies or plantations in America, do presume for the pres
ent, and until our further pleasure be known, to grant warrants of
survey, or pass patents, for any lands beyond the heads or sources
of any of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean from the
west or northwest; or upon any lands whatever, which, nol having
been ceded to, or purchased by us, as aforesaid, are reserved to
the said Indians, or any of them.
And we do further declare it to be our royal will and pleasure,
for the present, as aforesaid, to reserve under our sovereignty,
protection, and dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all the
land and territories not included within the limits of our said three
new governments, or within the limits of the territory granted to
the Hudson's Bay Company ; as also all the land and territories
lying to the westward of the sources of the rivers which fall into
the sea from the west and northwest as aforesaid ; and we do here
by strictly forbid, on pain of our displeasure, all our loving subjects
from making any purchases or settlements whatever, or taking pos
session of any of the lands above reserved, without our especial
leave and license for that purpose first obtained.
And we do further strictly enjoin and require all persons what
ever, who have either wilfully or inadvertently seated themselves
upon any lands within the countries above described, or upon any
other lands which, not having been ceded to, or purchased by us,
are still reserved to the said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to re
move themselves from such settlements.
And whereas great frauds and abuses have been committed in
the purchasing lands of the Indians, to the great prejudice of our
interests, and to the great dissatisfaction of the said Indians; in
order, therefore, to prevent such irregularities for the future, and to
the end that the Indians may be convinced of our justice, and de
termined resolution to reraove all reasonable cause of discontent,
we do, with the advice of our Privy Council, strictly enjoin and
require, that no private person do presiime to make any purchase
from the said Indians, of any lands reserved to the said Indians,
within those parts of our colonies where we have thought proper to
allow settlement ; but that, if at any time any of the said Indians
should be inclined to dispose of the said lands, the same shall be
purchased only for us, in our name, at sorae public meeting or
assembly of the said Indians, to be held for that purpose by the
governor or commander-in-chief of our colony respectively within
which they shall lie ; and, in case they shall lie within the limits
of any proprietaries, conformable to such directions and instructions

OHIO SETTLEMENT. 379
as we or they shall think proper to give for that purpose. And wo
do, by the advice of our Privy Council, declare and enjoin, that
the trade with the said Indians shall be free and open to all our
subjects whatever, provided that every person, who may incline to
trade with the said Indians, do take out a license for carrying on
such trade, from the governor or commander-in-chief of any of our
colonies respectively, where such person shall reside, and also the
security to observe such regulations as we shall at any time think
fit, by ourselves or commissaries, to be appointed for this purpose,
to direct and appoint for the benefit of the said trade. And we do
hereby authorize, enjoin, and require the governors and com
manders-in-chief of all our colonies respectively, as well those
under our immediate government, as those under the government
and direction of proprietaries, to grant such licenses without fee or
reward, taking especial care to insert therein a condition, that such
license shall be void, and the security forfeited, in case the person
to whom the same is granted, shall refuse or neglect to observe such
regulations as we shall think proper to prescribe as aforesaid.
And we do further expressly enjoin and require all officers what
ever, as well military as those employed in the management and
direction of Indian affairs within the territories reserved, as afore
said, for the use of the said Indians, to seize and apprehend all
persons whatever, who, standing charged with treasons, mispris
ions of treasons, murders, or other felonies or misdemeanors, shall
fly from justice and take refuge in the said territory, and to send
them under a proper guard to the colony where the crime was com
mitted of which they shall stand accused, in order to take their
trial for the same.
Given at our Court at St James's, the seventh day of October,
1763, in the third year of our reign.
God save the King.

380

FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.

APPENDIX, No. II.
STATE OF THE KING'S RENTS IN NORTH AMERICA.

Consideration money paid to
the King for
the lands.

The time the lands are
exempted from cLuit-rent.

Q,uit-renta. received.

Expense to
thia country
for the support
of the civil go
vernment of
the colonies.

Island of St. John,

Nova Scotia,

Canada,
Massachusetts, Connecticut,
Rhode Island,
New Hampshire,

itts, )
nd, >

New York,

New Jersey,
Pennsylvania. Maryland,

Virginia, N. & S. Carolina,
Georgia,E. &. W. Florida,

Bat it is pro
posed to pay for
the colony on
the Ohio

None. None.None.None.
None.None.

None.

None.
None.None.
£10,460 Is.
3d. ; which
all the money
the whole coun
try (of which
this is only a
small part) cost
government for the cession
from the Six
Nations.

20 years.

ID years.

Wholly exempt from:
quit-rents and all pay-!
ments to the crown. '
This colony was re
stored to the crown
the year 1693-4, and yet |
from that time very lit
tle quit-rents have been |
received. Wholly exempt from J
quit-rents and all pay->
ments to the crown. j
This Colony was re-'
assumed by the crown
in the yeiir 1626 ; and
yet, for a great number
of years, the quit-rents
were not paid at all ; —
never with any regulari
ty till within a very few
years 5 and now from
what is paid there is a
deduction of at least 20
per cent.
Tliis colony was set
tled in the year 1735,
and yet no q uit-rents
have been received.
10 years.
The quit-rents to com-"
mence in twenty years
from the time ofthe sur
vey of each lot or plan
tation, and to be paid
iuto the hands of such
person as his Majesty
shall appoint to receive
the same, net and clear
of all deductions what
soever, for collections or
otherwise.

None,
And yet no*
quit-rents
have been
received, though the ¦
colony was
established 22 years
ago.

None. None.

None.

£ c. d.
707,320 19 7^

None.None.

None.

None.

None.

Ncne,

Note,

£ s. d,
214.610 3 li

90,900 0 0

All the ex
penses of the
civil govem
ment of this
colony, to be
borne and paid
by the proprie
tors.

PREFACE,
BY THE BRITISH EDITOR,
TO "THE VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE FREEHOLDERS AND
OTHER 1NILA.BITANTS OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON."

Oi; the 20th of Noveraber, 1772, there was a meeting of the
inhabitants of Boston, at which was read a report of a committee.
who had been appointed at a previous meeting. This report con
tained a view of the state of public affairs, toucliing largely on the
rights of the colonists, and the infringement and violations of those
rights by the British government. It was the boldest exposition of
the American grievances, which had hitherto been made public,
and was drawn up with as much ability as freedom.
Hutchinson says of this report of the committee, that, "although
at its first appearance it was considered as their own work, yet
they had little more to do than to make the necessary alterations
in the arrangement of materials prepared for them by their great
director in England, whose counsels they obeyed, and in whose
wisdom and dexterity they had an implicit faith. Such principles
in government were avowed, as would be sufficient to justify the
colonies in revolting, and forming an independent state ; and such
instances were given of the infringement of their rights by the ex
ercise of Parliamentary authority, as, upon like reasons, would justi
fy an exception to the authority in all cases whatever ; nevertheless,
there was color for alleging, that it was not 'expressly' denied in
' every ' case. The whole frame of it, however, was calculated to
strike the colonists with a sense of their just claim to indepen
dence, and to stimulate them to assert it." — History of Massachu
setts, Vol. III. p. 364.
The person alluded to by Governor Hutchinson, as " tbe great
director in England," was Dr. Franklin, and it is insinuated, that
he was in eflfect the author of the report ; but this is in no sense
true; nor did he wholly approve the measures adopted at that
meeting. He thought the aflfair was carried a little farther than
the occasion required at the time, and was afraid that ill conse-

382 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
quences would result. It was only the time and manner of bring
ing the subject forward, however, upon which he had any doubts.
To the sentiments expressed in the report of the committee, and
adopted by the inhabitants of the town, he fully assented. This
IS proved by his sending a copy of the proceedings to the press, as
soon as he received it in London, with a prefatory notice written
by himself The pamphlet was entitled, " The Votes and Proceed
ings of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Bos
ton, in Town Meeting assembled, according to Law. Published
by Order of the Town." The following is Dr. Franklin's Preface
to the London edition. — Editor.

All accounts of the discontent so general in our
colonies, have of late years been industriously smothered
and concealed here ; it seeming to suit the views of
the American minister * to have it understood, that by
his great abilities aJI faction was subdued, all opposition
suppressed, and the whole country quieted. That the
true state of affairs there may be known, and the true
causes of that discontent well understood, the follow
ing piece (not the production of a private writer, but
the unanimous act of a large American city), lately
printed in New England, is republished here. This
nation, and the other nations of Europe, may thereby
learn, with more certainty, the grounds of a dissension,
that possibly may, sooner or later, have consequences
interesting to them all.
The colonies had, from their first settlement, been
governed with more ease, than perhaps can be equalled
by any instance in history of dominions so distant.
Their affection and respect for this country, while they
were treated with kindness, produced an almost implicit
* Lord Hillsborough. This nobleman, already first Lord of Trade,
was introduced in 1768 into the new-titled office of Secretary of State
for the Colonies. — B. V.

PROCEEDINGS OF BOSTON. 383
obedience to the instructions of the Prince, and even
to acts of the British Parliament ; though the right of
binding them by a legislature, in which they were un
represented, was never clearly understood. That re
spect and affection produced a partiality in favor of
every thing that was English ; whence their prefer
ence of English modes and manufactures ; their sub
mission to restraints on the importation of foreign goods,
which they had but little desire to use ; and the mo
nopoly we so long enjoyed of their commerce, to the
great enriching of our merchants and artificers.
The mistaken policy of the Stamp Act first disturbed
this happy situation ; but the flame thereby raised was
soon extinguished by its repeal, and the old harmony
restored, ¦\\ith all its concomitant advantage to our com
merce. The subsequent act of another administration,
which, not content with an established exclusion of
foreign manufactures, began to make our own merchan
dise dearer to the consumers there, by heavy duties,
revived it again ; and combinations were entered into
throughout the continent, to stop trading with Britain
till those duties should be repealed. All were accord
ingly repealed but one, ihe duty on tea. This was re
served (professedly so) as a standing claim and exer
cise of the right assumed by Parliament of laying such
duties.* The colonies, on this repeal, retracted their agree
ment, so far as related to all other goods, except that
on which the duty was retamed. This was trumpeted
* Mr. Burke says (in his Speech in 1774), that this preambulary tax had
lost us at once the benefit ofthe west and of the east; had thrown open
folding-doors to contraband ; and would be tlie means of giving the
profits of the colony trade to every nation but ourselves. He adds, in
the same place, "It is indeed a tax of sophistry, a tax of pedantry, a
tax of disputation, a tax of war and rebellion, a tax for any thing but
benefit to tlie imposers, or satisfaction to the subject" — B. V.

384 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
here by the minister for the colonies as a triumph ;
there it was considered only as a decent and equitable
measure, showing a willingness to meet the mother
country in every advance towards a reconciliation, and
a disposition to a good understanding so prevalent, that
possibly they might soon have relaxed in the article of
tea also. But the system of commissioners of customs,
officers without end, with fleets and armies for collect
ing and enforcing those duties, being continued ; and
these acting with much indiscretion and rashness, (giv
ing great and unnecessary trouble and obstruction to
business, commencing unjust and vexatious suits, and
harassing commerce in all its branches, while that the
minister kept the people in a constant state of irritation
by instructions, which appeared to have no other end
than the gratifying his private resentments,*) occasioned
a persevering adherence to their resolutions in that
particular ; and the event should be a lesson to minis
ters, not to risk through pique, the obstructing any one
branch of trade ; since the course and connexion of
general business may be thereby disturbed to a degree,
impossible to be foreseen or imagined. For it appears,
that, the colonies finding their humble petitions to have
this duty repealed were rejected and treated with con
tempt, and that the produce of the duty was applied
to the rewarding with undeserved salaries and pensions
every one of their enemies, the duty itself became
more odious, and their resolution to share it more vig
orous and obstinate.
The Dutch, the Danes, and French, took this oppor
tunity thus offered them by our imprudence, and be
gan to smuggle their teas into the plantations. At first
* Some of his circular letters had been criticized and exposed by one
or two of the American Assemblies. — B. V.

PROCEEDINGS OP BOSTON. 385
this was something difficult ; ; but at length, as all busi
ness is improved by practice, it became easy. A coast
fifteen hundred miles in length could not in all parts
be guarded, even by the whole navy of England ; es
pecially where their restraining authority was by aU the
inhabitants deemed unconstitutional, the smuggling of
course considered as patriotism. The needy wretches,.
too, who, with small salaries, were trusted to watch the
ports day and night, in all weathers, found it easier and
more profitable, not only to wink, but to sleep in their
beds; the merchant's pay being more generous than
the, Eing's. Other India goods, also, which, by them
selves, would not have made a smuggling voyage suffi
ciently profitable, accompanied tea to advantage ; and
it is feared the cheap French silks, formerly rejected, as
not to the taste of the colonies, may have found their
way with the wares of India, and now established
theraselves in the popular use and opinion.
It is supposed, that at least a million of Americans
drink tea twice a day, which, at the first cost here, can
scarce be reckoned at less than half a guinea a head
per annum. This market, that in the five years which
have run on since the act passed, would have paid two
million five hundred thousand guineas for tea alone,
into the coffers of the Company, we have wantonly lost
to foreigners.
Meanwhile, it is said, the duties have so diminished,
that the whole remittance of the last year amounted to
no more than the pitiful sum of eighty-five pounds,* for
the expense of some hundred thousands, in armed
•* " Eighty-five pounds, I am assured, my Lords, is the whole equiva
lent we have received for all the hatred and mischief, and all the infinite
losses this kingdom has suffered during that year, in her disputes with
North America." See the Bishop of St. Asaph's" Speech, inienrfcrf to have
leen spoken." — B. V.
VOL. IV. 49 GG

386 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
ships and soldiers, to support the officers. Hence the
tea, and other India goods, which might have been sold
in America, remain rotting in the Company's ware
houses ; * while those of foreign ports are known to
be cleared by the American demand. Hence, in some
degree, the Company's inability to pay their bUls ; the
sinking of their stock, by which millions of property
have been annihilated ; the lowering of their dividend,
whereby so many must be distressed ; the loss to gov
ernment of the stipulated four hundred thousand pounds
a year,t which must make a proportionable reduction in
our savings towards the discharge of our enormous
debt ; and hence, in part, the severe blow suffered by
credit in general,} to the ruin of many families ; the
stagnation of business in Spitalfields and at Manchester,
through want of vent for their goods ; with other future
evils, which, as they cannot, from the numerous and
secret connexions in general commerce, easily be fore
seen, can hardly be avoided.
* At this time they contained many millions of pounds of tea, including
the usual stock on hand. Mr. Burke, in his Speech in 1774, supposes
that America might have given a vent for ten milhons of pounds. This
seems to have been the greater part of the whole quantity. — B. V.
f On account of a temporary compromise of certain disputes with gov
ernment. — B. V.
X Seen in certain memorable mercantile failures in the year 1772.
— B. V.

RULES FOR
REDUCING A GREAT EMPIRE TO A SMALL ONE ;
PRESENTEDTO A LATE MINISTER,
WHEN HE ENTERED UPON HIS ADMINISTRATION.

The minister here alluded to is supposed to be the Earl of HUls
borough. His policy and acts as minister contributed more, per
haps, than that of any other man towards increasing the discon
tents, which led to a separation of the colonies from the mother
country. In a letter to his son, dated Londonj October 6th, 1773, Dr.
Franklin said; "I have written two pieces here lately for the Pub
lic Advertiser, on American afifairs, designed to expose the con
duct of this country towards the colonies in a short, comprehen
sive, and striking view, and stated therefore in out-of-the-way forms,
as most likely to take the general attention. The first was called,
Rules by which a Great Empire may be reduced to a Small One ;
the second, An Edict of the King qf Prussia. I send you one
of the first, but could not get enough of the second to spare you
one, though my clerk went the next morning to the printer's, and
wherever they are sold. They were all gone but two. In my own
mind I prefer the first, as a composition, for the quantity and value
of the matter contained, and a kind of spirited ending of each par
agraph. But I find that others more generally prefer the second.
I am not suspected as the author, except by one or two friends."
Again, November 3d; "I mentioned my having written two
papers, of which I preferred the first, but the public the last. It
seems I was mistaken in judging of the public opinion ; for the
first was reprinted some weeks after in the same paper, the printer
giving for reason, that he did it in compliance with the earnest
request of many private persons, and some respectable societies ;
which is the more extraordinary, as it had been copied iu several
other papers, and in the Gentleman's Magazine. Such papers

388 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
may seem to have a tendency to increase our divisions; but I
intend a contrary effect ; and hope, by comprising in a little room,
and setting in a strong light, the grievances of the colonies, more
attention will be paid to them by our administration, and that,
when their unreasonableness is generally seen, some of them will
be removed, to the restoration of harmony between us." — Editor.

An ancient sage valued himself upon this, that,
though he could not fiddle, he knew how to make a
great city of a litde one. The science that I, a mod
ern simpleton, am about to communicate, is the very
reverse. I address myself to all ministers who have the man
agement of extensive dominions, which from their very
greatness have become troublesome to govern, because
the multiplicity of their afiairs leaves no time for fid
dling. 1. In the first place, Gentlemen, you are to consider,
that a great empire, like a great cake, is most easily
diminished at the edges. Turn your attention, there
fore, first to your remotest provinces ; that, as you get
rid of them, the next may follow in order.
2. That the possibility of this separation may always
exist, take special care the provinces are never incor
porated loith the mother country; that they do not
enjoy the same common rights, the same privUeges
in commerce ; and that they are governed by severer
laws, all of your enacting, without allowing them any
share in the choice of the legislators. By carefully
making and preserving such distinctions, you wiU (to
keep to my simile of the cake) act like a wise ginger-
bread-baker, who, to facilitate a division, cuts his dongh
half through in those places wnere, when baked, he
would have it broken to pieces.

RULES. 389
3. Those remote provinces have perhaps been ac
quired, purchased, or conquered, at the sole expense
of the setders, or their ancestors ; without the aid of
the mother country. If this should happen to increase
her strength, by their growing numbers, ready to join
in her wars ; her commerce, by their growing demand
for her manufactures ; or her naval power, by greater
employment for her ships and seamen, they may prob
ably suppose some merit in this, and that it entitles
them to some favor; you are therefore to forget it all,
or resent it, as if they had done you injury. If they
happen to be zealous whigs, friends of liberty, nurtured
in revolution principles, remember all that to their prej
udice, and contrive to punish it; for such principles,
after a revolution is thoroughly established, are of no
more use; they are even odious and abominable.
4. However peaceably your colonies have submitted
to your government, shown their affection to your inter
ests, and patiently borne their grievances ; you are to
suppose them always inclined io revolt, and treat them
accordingly. Quarter troops among them, who by their
insolence may provoke the rising of mobs, and by their
bullets and bayonets suppress them. By this means,
like the husband who uses his wife ill from suspicion,
you may in time convert your suspicions into realities.
5. Remote provinces must have governors and judg
es, to represent the royal person, and execute every
where the delegated parts of his office and authority.
You ministers know, that much of the strength of gov
ernment depends on the opinion of the people ; and
much of that opinion on the choice of rulers placed
immediately over them. If you send them wise and
good men for governors, who study the interest of the
colonists, and advance their prosperity ; they will think
their King wise and good, and that he wishes the
GG*

390 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
welfare of his subjects. If you send them leamed and
upright men for judges, they will think him a lover of
justice. This may attach your provinces more to his
government. You are therefore to be careful whom you
recommend to those offices. If you can find prodigals,
who have ruined their fortunes, broken gamesters or
stockjobbers, these may do well as governors ; for they
will probably be rapacious, and provoke the people by
their extortions. Wrangling proctors and pettifogging
lawyers, too, are not amiss ; for they will be for ever dis
puting and quarrelling with their little Parliaments. If
withal they should be ignorant, wrongheaded, and inso
lent, so much the better. Attorneys' clerks and New
gate solicitors will do for chief justices, especially if they
hold their places during your pleasure; and all will
contribute to impress those ideas of your government,
that are proper for a people you would wish to re
nounce it.
6. To confirm these impressions, and strike them
deeper, whenever the injured come to the capital with
complaints of mal-administration, oppression, or injus
tice, punish such suitors with long delay, enormous
expense, and a final judgment in favor of the oppressor.
This will have an admirable effect every way. The
trouble of future complaints will be prevented, and gov
ernors and judges will be encouraged to farther acts
of oppression and injustice ; and thence the people
may become more disaffected, and at length desperate.
7. When such governors have crammed their coffers,
and made themselves so odious to the people that they
can no longer remain among them, with safety to their
persons, recall and reward them with pensions. You
may make them baronets too, if that respectable order
should not think fit to resent it. All will contribute
to encourage new governors in the same practice, and
make the supreme government detestable.

RULES. 391
8. K, when you are engaged in war, your colonies
should vie in liberal aids of men and money against the
common enemy, upon your simple requisition, and give
far beyond their abihties, reflect that a penny taken
from them by your power is more honorable to you,
than a pound presented by their benevolence ; despise
therefore their voluntary grants, and resolve to harass
them w^ith novel taxes. They will probably complain
to your Parliament, that they are taxed by a body in
which they have no representative, and that this is con
trary to common right. They will petition for redress.
Let the Parliament flout their claims, reject their peti
tions, refuse even to suffer the reading of them, and
treat the petitioners with the utmost contempt. Noth
ing can have a better effect in producing the alienation
proposed; for, though many can forgive injuries, none
ever forgave contempt.
9. In laying these taxes, never regard the heavy
burdens those remote people already imdergo, in de
fending their o^vn frontiers, supporting their own pro
vincial government, making ijew roads, building bridges,
churches, and other public edifices ; which in old coun
tries have been done to your hands by your ancestors,
but which occasion constant calls and demands on the
purses of a new people. Forget the restramt you lay
on their trade for your own benefit, and the advantage
a monopoly of this trade gives your exacting merchants.
Think nothing of the wealth those merchants and your
manufacturers acquire by the colony commerce ; their
increased ability thereby to pay taxes at home ; their
accumulating, in the price of their commodities, most of
those taxes, and so levying them from their consuming
customers; all this, and the employment and support
of thousands of your poor by the colonists, you are
entirely to forget But remember to make y<^v

392 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
arbitrary tax more grievous to your provinces, by public
declarations importing that your power of taxing thera
has no limits; so that, when you take from them
without their consent a shilling in the pound, you have
a clear right to the other nineteen. This will probably
weaken every idea of security in their property, and
convince them, that under such a government they
have nothing they can call their own ; which can scarce
fail of producing the happiest consequences !
10. Possibly, indeed, some of them might still comfort
themselves, and say, "Though we have no property,
we have yet something left that is valuable ; we have
constitutional liberty, both of person and of conscience.
This King, these Lords, and these Commons, who it
seems are too remote from us to know us, and feel for
us, cannot take from us our Habeas Corpus right, or
our right of trial by a jury of our neighbours ; they
cannot deprive us of the exercise of our religion, alter
our ecclesiastical constitution, and compel us to be Pa
pists, if they please, or Mahometans." To annihilate
this comfort, begin by laws to perplex their commerce
with infinite regulations, impossible to be remembered
and observed; ordain seizures of their property for
every failure ; take away the trial of such property by
jury, and give it to arbitrary judges of your own ap
pointing, and of the lowest characters in the country,
¦whose salaries and emoluments are to arise out of the
duties or condemnations, and whose appointments are
during pleasure. Then let there be a formal declaration
of both Houses, that opposition to your edicts is trea
son, and that persons suspected of treason in the prov
inces may, according to some obsolete law, be seized
and sent to the metropoHs of the empire for trial;
and pass an act, that those there charged with certain
otjier offences, shall be sent away in chains from their

RULES. 393
iriends and country to be tried in the same manner for
felony. Then erect a new court of Inquisition among
them, accompanied by an armed force, with insti-uctions
to U'ansport all such suspected persons ; to be ruined
by the expense, if they bring over evidences to prove
Jieir innocence, or be found guilty and hanged, if they
cannot afford it. And, lest the people should think you
cannot possibly go any farther, pass another solemn
declaratory act, "that King, Lords, Commons had,
have, and of right ought to have, full power and au
thority to make statutes of sufficient force and validity
to bind the unrepresented provinces in all cases ivhat-
soever. This wiU include spiritual with temporal, and,
taken together, must operate wonderfully to jour pur
pose ; by convincing them, that they are at present
under a power something like that spoken of in the
Scriptures, which can not only kill their bodies, but
damn their souls to all eternity, by compelling them,
if it pleases, to worship the Devil.
11. To make your taxes more odious, and more
hkely to procure resistance, send from the capital a
board of ofificers to superintend the collection, composed
of the most indiscreet, ill-bred, and insolent you can
find. Let these have lai-ge salaries out of the extorted
revenue, and li^'e in open, grating luxury upon the sweat
and blood of the industrious ; ^vhom they are to wor
ry continually Avith groundless and expensive prose
cutions before the abovementioned arbitrary re^'enue
judges ; all at the cost of the party prosecuted, though
acquitted, because the King is to pay no costs. Let
these men, by your order, be exempted from all the
common taxes and burdens of the province, though
they and theh" property are protected by its laws. If
any revenue officers are suspected of the least tender
ness for the people, discard them. If others are justly
VOL. IV. 50

394 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
complained of, protect and reward them. If any of the
under officers behave so as to provoke the people to
drub them, promote those to better offices ; this will
encourage others to procure for themselves such profit
able drubbings, by multiplying and enlarging such
provocations, and all will work towards the end you
aim at.
12. Another way to make your tax odious, is to mis
apply the produce of it. If it was originally appropri
ated for the defence of the provinces, and the better
support of government, and the administration of jus
tice, where it may be necessary ; then apply none of it
tp that defence ; but bestow it where it is not neces
sary, in augmenting salaries or pensions to every gover
nor, who has distinguished himself by his enmity to
the people, and by calumniating them to their sove
reign. This will make them pay it more unwillingly,
and be more apt to quarrel ^ith those that collect it
and those that imposed it ; who will quarrel again with
them ; and all shall contribute to your own purpose,
of making them weary of your government.
13. If the people of any province have been accus
tomed to support iheir own governors and judges to
satisfaction, you are to apprehend that such govemors
and judges may be thereby influenced to treat the
people kindly, and to do them justice. This is anoth
er reason for applying part of that revenue in larger
salaries to such governors and judges, given, as their
commissions are, during your pleasure only ; forbidding
them to take any salaries from their provinces; that
thus the people may no longer hope any kindness from
their governors, or (in crown cases) any justice from
their judges. And, as the money thus misapplied in
one province is extorted from all, probably all will re
sent the misapplication.

RULES. 395
14. If the ParHaments of your provinces should dare
to claim rights, or complain of your administration, or
der them to be harassed with repeated dissolutions.
If the same men are continually returned by new elec
tions, adjourn their meetings to some country village,
where they cannot be accommodated, and there keep
them during pleasure ; for this, you know, is your
prerogative ; and an excellent one it is, as you may
manage it to promote discontents among the people,
diminish their respect, and increase their disaffection.
15. Convert the brave, honest officers of your iiavy
into pimping tide-waiters and colony officers of the cus
toms. Let those, who in time of war fought gallantly
in defence of the commerce of their countrymen, in
peace be taught to prey upon it. Let them learn to
be corrupted by great and real smugglers ; but (to
show their diligence) scour with armed boats every
bay, harbour, river, creek, cove, or nook throughout the
coast of your colonies ; stop and detain every coaster,
every wood-boat, every fisherman ; tumble their car
goes and even their ballast inside out and upside down ;
and, if a pennyworth of pins is found unentered, let
the whole be seized and confiscated. Thus shall the
trade of your colonists suffer more from their friends in
time of peace, than it did from their enemies in war.
Then let these boats' crews land upon every farm in
their way, rob their orchards, steal their pigs and poul
try, and insult the inhabitants. If the injured and ex
asperated farmers, unable to procure other justice,
should attack the aggressors, drub them, and burn their
boats ; you are to call this high treason and rebellion,
order fleets and armies into their country, and threaten
to carry all the offenders three thousand miles to be
hanged, drawn, and quartered. 0 ! this will work ad
mirably !

396 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
16. If you are told of discontents in your colonies,
never believe that they are general, or that you have
given occasion for them ; therefore do not think of ap
plying any remedy, or of changing any offensive meas
ure. Redress no grievance, lest they should be encour
aged to demand the redress of some other grievance.
Grant no request that is just and reasonable, lest they
should make another that is unreasonable. Take all
your informations of the state of the colonies from your
governors and officers in enmity with them. Encour
age and reward these leasing-makers; secrete their
lying accusations, lest they should be confuted; but
act upon them as the clearest evidence; and believe
nothing you hear from the friends of the people. Sup
pose all their complaints to be invented and promoted
by a few factious demagogues, whom if you could
catch and hang, all would be quiet. Catch and hang
a few of them accordingly ; and the blood of the
martyrs shall work miracles in favor of your purpose.*
17. If you see rival nations rejoicing at the prospect
of your disunion with your provinces, and endeavourmg
to promote it; if they translate, pubUsh, and applaud
all the complaints of your discontented colonists, at the
same time privately stimulating you to severer meas
ures, let not that offend you. Why should it, since
you all mean the same thing?
* One of the American writers affirms, " That there has not been a
single instance in which they have complained, without being rebuked;
or in which they have been complained against, witnout being punished."
A fundamental mistake in the minister occasioned this. Every individ
ual in New England (the peccant country) was held a coward or a knave,
and the disorders which spread abroad tliere were treated as the result
of the too great lenity of Britain ! By the aid of this short and benevo
lent rule, judgment was ever wisely predetermined; to the shutting out
redress on tlie one hand, and enforcing every rigor of punishment on
the other. — B.V.

RULES. 397
18. If any colony should at iheir own charge erect
a fortress to secure their port against the fleets of a
foreign enemy, get your governor to betray that fortress
into your hands. Never think of paying what it cost
the country, for that would look, at least, like some re
gard for justice ; but turn it into a citadel to awe the
inhabitants and curb their commerce. If they should
have lodged in such fortress the very arms they bought
and used to aid you in your conquests, seize them all ;
it will provoke, like ingratitude added to robbery. One
admirable effect of these operations will be, to discour
age every other colony from erecting such defences,
and so their and your enemies may more easily invade
them ; to the great disgrace of your govemment, and
of course the furtherance of your project.
19. Send armies into their country under pretence
of protecting the inhabitants; but, instead of garrisoning
the forts on their frontiers with those troops, to prevent
incursions, demolish those forts, and order the troops
into the heart of the country, that the savages may be
encouraged to attack the frontiers, and that the troops
may be protected by the inhabitants. This will seem to
proceed from your ill will or your ignorance, and con
tribute farther to produce and strengthen an opinion
among them, that you are no longer fit to govern
them.* 20. Lastly, invest the general of your army in the
* As the reader may be inclined to divide his belief between the wis
dom of ministry and the candor and veracity of Dr. Franklin, I shall in
form him, that two contrary objections may be made to the truth of this
representation. The first is, that the conduct of Great Britain is made
too absurd for possibiUty ; and the second, that it is not made absurd enough
for fact. If we consider that this writing does not include the measures
subsequent to 1773, the latter difficulty is easily set aside. The former
I can only solve by the many instances in history, where the infatuation
of individuals has brought the heaviest calamities upon nations. — B. V.
VOL. IV. HH

398 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
provinces, with great and unconstitutional powers, and
free him from the control of even your own civil gover
nors. Let him have troops enough under his command,
with all the fortresses in his possession ; and who knows
but (like some provincial generals in the Roman empire,
and encouraged by the universal discontent you have
produced) he may take it into his head to set up for
himself? If he should, and you have carefully prac
tised the few excellent rules of mine, take my word
for it, all the provinces will immediately join him ; and
you will that day (if you have not done it sooner) get
rid of the trouble of governmg them, and all the plagues
attending their commerce and connexion from thence
forth and for ever.*

* A new and handsome edition of the above piece was published at
London, in 1793, with the following ironical dedication. It will be re
membered, that Lord Loughborough was once Mr. Wedderburn, and tlie
same person who uttered an abusive philippic against Dr. Franldin in a
speech before the King in Council relating to Hutchinson's Letters. —
Editok. " To the Right Honorable Alexander, Lord Loughborough.
" My Lord,
" When I reflect on your Lordship's magnanimous conduct towards the
autlior of tlie following golden Rules, tliere is, in my opinion, a peculiar
propriety in dedicating tliis new edition of them to a nobleman, whose
talents were so eminently useful in procuring tlie emancipation of our
American brethren.
"In the most heartfelt wish, that tlie same talents may be employed on
similar occasions with the same splendid success,
" I have tlie honor to be, my Lord,
" Your Lordship's most obedient
" And very h: mble servant,
"The Editor.
"London, lith February, 1793."

AN EDICT
BY THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

The design of this piece is explained at the beginning of the last
article. As applied to the relations at that tirae subsisting between
England and her colonies, its point and humor are apposite and
striking. — Editor.

Dantzic, September 5th, 1773.
We have long wondered here at the supineness of
the English nation, under the Prussian impositions upon
its trade entering our port. We did not, till lately,
know the claims, ancient and modem, that hang over
that nation ; and therefore could not suspect that it
might submit to those impositions from a sense of duty
or from principles of equity. The followmg Edict, just
made public, may, if serious, throw some light upon
this matter.
" Frederic, by the grace of God, King of Prussia,
&c. &c. &c., to all present and to come, (a tous pre
sens et a venir,) health. The peace now enjoyed
throughout our dominions, having afforded us leisure to
apply ourselves to the regulation of commerce, the im
provement of our finances, and at the same time the
easing our domestic subjects in their taxes ; for these
causes, and other good considerations us thereunto
moving, we hereby make known, that, afler having de
liberated these affairs in our Council, present our dear
brothers, and other great officers of the state, members
of the same ; we, of our certain knowledge, full power.

400 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
and authority royal, have made and issued this present
Edict, viz.
"Whereas it is well known to all the world, that
the first German settieraents made in the Island of
Britain, were by colonies of people, subject to our
renowned ducal ancestors, and drawn from their do
minions, under the conduct of Hengist, Horsa, Hella,
Uffa, Cerdicus, Ida, and others ; and that the said col
onies have flourished under the protection of our au
gust house for ages past ; have never been emancipated
therefrora ; and yet have hitherto yielded httle profit to
the sarae ; and whereas we ourself have in the last war
fought for and defended the said colonies, against the
power of France, and thereby enabled thera to make
conquests from the said power in America, for which
we have not yet received adequate compensation ; and
whereas it is just and expedient that a revenue should
be raised from the said colonies in Britain, towards our
indemnification; and that those who are descendants
of our ancient subjects, and thence still owe us due
obedience, should contribute to the replenishing of our
royal coffers (as they must have done, had their an
cestors remained in the territories now to us appertam-
ing) ; we do therefore hereby ordain and command,
that, frora and after the date of these presents, there
shall be levied and paid to our officers of the. customs,
on all goods, wares, and merchandises, and on all grain
and other produce of the earth, exported from the said
Island of Britain, and on all goods of whatever kind
imported into the sarae, a duty of four and a half per
cent ad valorem, for the use of us and our successors.
And, that the said duty may more effectually be col
lected, we do hereby ordain, that all ships or vessel's
bound from Great Britain to any other part of the world,
or from any other part of the world to Great Britain,

PRUSSIAN EDICT. 401
shall in their respective voyages touch at our port of
Koningsberg, there to be unladen, searched, and charged
with the said duties.
"And whereas there hath been from time to time
discovered in the said Island of Great Britain, by our
colonists there, many mines or beds of ii-on-stone ; and
sundry subjects of our ancient dominion, skilful in con
verting the said stone into metal, have in time past
transported themselves thither, carrying with them and
communicating that art ; and the inhabitants of the
said Island, presuming that they had a natural right
to make the best use they could of the natural produc
tions of theu- country for their own benefit, have not
only built furnaces for smelting the said stone into iron,
but have erected plating-forges, slitting-mills, and steel-
furnaces, for the more convenient manufacturing of the
same; thereby endangering a diminution of the said
manufacture in our ancient dominion ; — We do there
fore hereby farther ordain, that, from and after the date
hereof, no mUl or other engine for slitting or rolling
of iron, or any plating-forge to work with a tilt-hammer,
or any furnace for making steel, shall be erected or
continued in the said Island of Great Britain. And the
Lord Lieutenant of every county in the said Island is
hereby coraraanded, on information of any such erec
tion within his county, to order, and by force to cause,
the same to be abated and destroyed ; as he shall an
swer the neglect thereof to us at his peril. But we are
nevertheless gi-aciously pleased to permit the mhabit
ants of the said island to ti-ansport their iron into Prus
sia, there to be manufactured, and to them returned ;
they paying our Prussian subjects for the workman
ship, with all the costs of commission, freight, and risk,
coming and returning ; any thing herein contained to
the conti-ary notwithstanding.
VOL. IV. 51 HH*

402 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
" We do not, however, think fit to extend this our
indulgence to the article of wool ; but, meaning to en
courage, not only the manufacturing of woollen cloth,
but also the raising of wool, in our ancient dominions,
and to prevent both, as rauch as may be, in our said
island, we do hereby absolutely forbid the transporta
tion of wool from thence, even to the mother country,
Prussia ; and, that those islanders may be farther and
more effectually restrained in making any advantage of
their own wool in the way of manufacture, we com
mand that none shall be carried out of one county into
another ; nor shall any worsted, bay, or woollen yara,
cloth, says, bays, kerseys, serges, frizes, druggets, cloth-
serges, shalloons, or any other drapery stuffs, or wool
len raanufactures whatsoever, made up or mixed with
wool in any of the said counties, be carried into any
other county, or be water-borne even across the small
est river or creek ; on penalty of forfeiture of the same,
together with the boats, carriages, horses, &c., that
shall be eraployed in removing them. Nevertheless,
our loving subjects there are hereby permitted (if they
think proper) to use all their w^ool as manure for the
improvement of their lands.
And whereas the art and mystery of making hats
hath arrived at great perfection in Prussia, and the
making of hats by our remoter subjects ought to be
as much as possible restrained ; and forasmuch as the
islanders before mentioned, being in possession of wool,
beaver and other furs, have presumptuously conceived
they had a right to make some advantage thereof, by
manufacturing the same into hats, to the prejudice of
>our domestic manufacture; we do therefore hereby
'Strictly command and ordain, that no hats or felts what
soever, dyed or undyed, finished or unfinished, shall be
loaded or put into or upon any vessel, cart, carriage, or

PRUSSIAN EDICT. 403
horse, to be transported or conveyed out of one county
m the said island into another county, or to any other
place whatsoever, by any person or persons whatso
ever; on pain of forfeiting the same, with a penalty of
five hundred pounds sterlmg for every offence. Nor
shall any hat-maker, in any of the said counties, employ
more than two apprentices, on penalty of five pounds
sterling per month ; we intending hereby, that such hat-
makers, being so restramed, both in the production and
sale of their commodity, may find no advantage in con
tinuing their business. But, lest" the said islanders
should suffer inconveniency by the want of hats, we are
farther graciously pleased to permit them to send their
beaver furs to Prussia ; and we also permit hats made
thereof to be exported from Prussia to Britain; the
people thus favored to pay all costs and charges of
manufacturing, interest, commission to our merchants,
msurance and freight going and returning, as in the
case of iron.
"And, lastly, bemg willing farther to favor our said
colonies in Britain, we do hereby also ordain and com
mand, that all the thieves, highway and street robbers,
housebreakers, forgerers, murderers, s — d — tes, and
villains of every denomination, who have forfeited their
lives to the law in Prussia ; but whom we, in our great
clemency, do not think fit here to hang ; shall be emp
tied out of our gaols into the said Island of Great
Britain, for the better peopling of that country.
"We flatter ourselves, that these our royal regula
tions and commands will be thought just and reason
able by our much-favored colonists in England; the
said regulations being copied from their Statutes of
10th and llth William III. c. 10, 5th George II. c. 22,
23d George II. c. 29, .4th George I. c. 11, and from
other equitable laws made by their Parliaments; or

404 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
from instructions given by their princes ; or from reso
lutions of both Houses, entered into for the good gov
ernment of their own colonies in Ireland and America.
" And all persons in the said Island are hereby cau
tioned not to oppose in any wise the execution of this
our Edict, or any part thereof, such opposition being
high treason ; of which all who are suspected shall be
transported in fetters from Britain to Prussia, there to
be tried and executed according to the Prussian law.
^ "Such is our pleasure.
" Given at Potsdam, this twenty-fifth day of the month
of August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-
three, and in the thirty-third year of our reign.
"By the King, in his Council.
" RECHTMAESSia, ScC."
Some take this Edict to be merely one of the King's
jeux d^ esprit ; others suppose it serious, and thathe
means a quarrel with England ; but aU here think the
assertion it concludes with, " that these regulations are
copied from acts of the English ParUament respectmg
their colonies," a very injurious one ; it being impos
sible to beUeve, that a people distinguished for their love
of Uberty, a nation so wise, so Uberal in its sentiments,
so just and eqmtable towards its neighbours, should,
from mean and injudicious views of petty immediate
profit, treat its own children in a manner so arbitrary
and tvrannical!

AN ACCOUNT OP THE
TRANSACTIONS RELATING TO GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON'S
LETTERS.

The affair of Hutchinson's Letters made much noise at the time,
by reason of the political consequences emanating from them, and
subjected Dr. Franklin to unmerited obloquy. It seems, that while
acting in London as agent for the colony of Massachusetts, certain
original letters were put into his hands, which had been written
in Boston by Governor Hutchinson, Lieutenant-Governor Oliver,
Charles Paxton, Nathaniel Rogers, and G. Rome, and directed to
Thomas Whately, a member of Parliament, and private secretary
to Mr. Grenville, one of the ministers. After Mr. Whately's death
the above letters were obtained by some unknown person, and
communicated to Dr. Franklin, with permission that he might send
them to his correspondents in Massachusetts. As the contents of
the letters were of a very extraordinary character, and in their po
litical tendency deeply interesting to the people of Massachusetts,
and indeed to those of all the colonies, Dr. Franklin thought it his
duty to transmit them without delay. He enclosed thera to Thom
as Cushing, Speaker of the House of Representatives in Massa
chusetts, and at length they were made public. Although this was
done without the consent or knowledge of Dr. Franklin, he did
not disapprove the act, considering it not only a proper but neces
sary step for exposing the insidious designs of eminent public men
in America, whose secret counsels were hostile to the liberties of
his country.
His agency in the matter caused a loud clamor to be raised
against him by the ministerial partisans in England. It was
made the occasion of unmeasured abuse through the channel of
the press, and particularly from Mr. Wedderburn, the King's
solicitor-general, when the petition of the Massachusetts legislature
for the removal of Governor Hutchinson, in consequence of these
letters, was brought before the Council. Conscious of having acted

406 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
a part honorable in itself, and of the utmost importance to his
country. Dr. Franklin suffered the tide of obloquy to pass by
without attempting to oppose or divert its course. A short time
before he returned to America, however, he wrote the following
paper, which affords a triumphant vindication of his conduct, but
which was not published during his lifetime, nor till it appeared
in William Temple Franklin's edition of his works. — Editor.

Having been frora my youth raore or less engaged
in pubUc affairs, it has often happened to rae in the
course of ray life to be censured sharply for the part I
took in them. Such censures I have generally passed
over in silence, conceiving, when they were just, that
I ought rather to amend than defend ; and, when they
were undeserved, that a little time would justify me.
Much experience has confirmed my opinion of the
propriety of this conduct ; for, notwithstanding the
frequent, and sometimes the virulent attacks which the
jostlings of party interests have drawn upon me, I have
had the felicity of bringing down to a good old age as
fair a reputation (may I be permitted to say it?) as
most public men that I have known, and have never
had reason to repent my neglecting to defend it.
I should therefore (persisting, as old men ought to do,
in old habits) have taken no notice of the late invective
of the solicitor-general, nor of the abundant abuse in
the papers, were I not urged to it by my friends, who
say, that the first being delivered by a pubUc officer
of government before a high and raost respectable court,
the Privy Council, and countenanced by its report, and
the latter having that for its foundation, it behoves -me,
more especially as I am about leaving this country, to
furnish them with the knowledge of such facts as may
enable them to justify to others their good opinion of

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 407
me. This compels me to the present undertakmg;
for otherwise, having for some time past been gradually
losing all pubUc connexions, decUning ray agencies, de
terrained on retiring to my littie family, that I might
enjoy the remainder of life in private repose, indifferent
to the opinion of courtiers, as having nothmg to seek or
wish among them, and being secure that time would
soon lay the dust which prejudice and party have so
lately raised, I should not think of giving myself the
trouble of vn-iting, and my friends of reading, an apol
ogy for my political conduct.
That this conduct may be better understood, and its
consistency more apparent, it seems necessary that I
should first explain the principles on which I have
acted. It has long appeared to me, that the only true
British poUcy was that, which aimed at the good of
the whole British empire, not that which sought the
advantage of one part in the disadvantage of the others ;
therefore all measures of procuring gain to the mother
country arising from loss to her colonies, and aU of gain
to the colonies arising frora or occasioning loss to Brit
ain, especially where the gain was sraaU and the loss
great, every abridgment of the power of the mother
country, where that power was not prejudicial to the
liberties of the colonists, and every diminution of the
privileges of the colonists, where they were not preju
dicial to the welfare of the mother country, I, in my
own mind, condemned as improper, partial, unjust,
and mischievous; tending to create dissensions, and
weaken that union, on which the strength, soUdity, and
duration of the empire greatly depended ; and I op
posed, as far as my Uttie powers went, all proceedings,
either here or in America, that in my opinion had such
tendency. Hence it has often happened to me, that

408 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
while I have been thought here too much of an Amer
ican, I have in America been deemed too much of an
Enghshraan. From a thorough inquiry (on occasion of the Stamp
Act) into the nature of the connexion between Britain
and the colonies, I becarae convinced, that the bond of
their union is not the Parliament, but the King. That,
in reraoving to Araerica, a country out of the realm,
they did not carry with thera the statutes then existing ;
for, if they did, the Puritans must have been subject
there to the same grievous act of conformity, tithes,
spiritual courts, &c., which they meant to be free from
by going thither; and in vain would they have left
their native country, and all the conveniences and com
forts of its improved state, to combat the hardships of
a new settlement in a distant wilderness, if they had
taken with thera what they meant to fly from, or if
they had left a power behind them capable of sending
the same chains after them, to bind them in America.
They took with them, however, by corapact, their aUe
giance to the King, and a legislative power for the
making a new body of laws with his assent, by which
they were to be govemed. Hence they becarae dis
tinct states, under the sarae prince, united as Ireland
is to the crown, but not to the realm, of England, and
governed each by its own laws, though with the same
sovereign, and having each the right of granting its
own raoney to that sovereign.
At the sarae tirae, I considered the King's supreme
authority over aU the colonies as of the greatest impor
tance to them, affording a dernier resort for settling all
their disputes, a means of preserving peace araong them
with each other, and a centre in which their coraraon
force might be united against a common eneray. This
authority I therefore thought, when acting within its

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 409
due Umits, should be ever as carefully supported by
the colonists as by the inhabitants of Britain.*
In conforraity with these principles, and as agent for
the colonies, I opposed the Stamp Act, and endeav
oured to obtain its repeal, as an infringement of the
• This doctrine, respecting the relation between the King and the
colomes, and the limited power of Parliament over the latter, was much
insisted on by Dr. Franklin, as may be seen in several of the preced
ing papers in this volume. He was charged with being the author of
a tract on this subject, however, which he did not write. In tlie year
1774, a pamphlet was published anonymously in Philadelphia, entitled
" Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority
of the British Parliament." This was copied into Rivington's JVew York
Gazette, October SOth, 1774, and there asoribed to Dr. Franklin.
Deceived by this Gazette, Dean Tucker, in his Fifth Tract, quoted
a passage, which he (^sured, and for which he made Dr. Pranklin an
swerable. Lord Mansfield, deceived in his turn by the authority of Dean
Tucker, alluding to the same performance in a speech on American af
fairs, February 7th, 1775, in the House of Lords, said, " One of the most
able American writers, afl;er the fullest and clearest investigation of the
subject, at last confesses, that no medium can possibly be devised, which
wiU exclude the inevitable consequence of either system absolutely pre
vailing ; for, talce it up on which ground you will, the supremacy of the
British legislature must be complete, entire, and unconditional ; or, on
the other hand, the colonies must be free and independent." The person
alluded to, as " one of the most able American writers," was Franklin.
It is not likely, however, that he had any knowledge of the pamphlet
before its publication. It was written by James Wilson, a distinguished
lawyer of Philadelphia, afterwards one of the Signers of the Declaration
of Independence, and, under Washington's administration, one of the
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Another pamphlet was printed the same year in London, entitled, " Au
Appeal to the Justice and Interests of the People of Great Britain, in the
Present Dispute with America," to which Dr. Franklin is supposed to
have contributed. On this subject the author of " Biographical, Litei-or
ry, and Political Anecdotes of Several of the Most Eminent Persons of the
Present Age," (Vol. II. p. 325,) speaks as follows ; " The tract was print
ed from the manuscript of Mr. Arthur Lee. But Dr. Franklin had a con
siderable share in the composition ; and it might now, with no impropri
ety, be called Dr. Franklin's farewell address. It was the most sensible
and judicious tract on that side of the question. Many thousands of it
were circulated." By farewell address is meant, that it was published
not long before Dr. Franklin left England to return to his own country.
— Editor.
VOL. IV. 52 II

410 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
rights of the colonists, of no real advantage to Britain,
since she raight ever be sure of greater aids from our
voluntary grants than she could expect frora arbitrary
taxes, as by losing our respect and affection, on which
much of her coraraerce with us depended, she would
lose raore in that commerce than she could possibly
gain by such taxes, and as it was detrunental to the
harraony which had till then so happily subsisted, and
which was so essential to the welfare of the whole.
And to keep up, as rauch as in rae lay, a reverence for
the King and a respect for the British nation on that
side the water, and, on this, sorae regard for the col
onies, (both tending to proraote that harmony,) I indus
triously, on all occasions, in my letters to America,
represented the measures that were grievous to them,
as being neither royal nor national measures, but the
scheraes of an administration, which wished to recora
mend itself for its ingenuity in finance, or to avail itself
of new revenues in creating, by places and pensions,
new dependencies ; for that the King was a good and
gracious prince, and the people of Britain their real
friends. And on this side the water, I representied the
people of Araerica as fond of Britain, concerned for its
interests and its glory, and without the least desire of
a separation from it. In both cases I thought, and stiU
think, I did not exceed the bounds of truth, and I have
the heartfelt satisfaction attending good intentions, even
when they are not successful.
With these sentiraents I could not but see with con
cern the sending of troops to Boston ; and their be
haviour to the people there gave me infinite uneasiness,
as I apprehended from that measure the worst of con
sequences, a breach between the two countries. And
I was the more concerned when I found, that it was
considered there as a national measure (since none here

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 411
opposed it), and as a proof that Britain had no longer
a parental regard for them. I myself in conversation
sometimes spoke of it in this Ught, and I own with
some resentment (bemg myself a native of that coun
try), tiU I was, to my great surprise, assured by a gen
tieman of character and distinction (whom I am not at
present permitted to narae), that not only the raeasure
I particularly censured so warmly, but aU the other
grievances we complained of, took their rise, not from
the government here, but were projected, proposed to
administration, sohcited, and obtained, by sorae of the
most respectable among the Americans themselves, as
necessary measures for the welfai-e of that country. As
I could not readily assent to the probability of this, he
undertook to convince me, and he hoped, through me
(as their agent here), my countrymen. Accordingly,
he caUed on me some days after, and produced to me
these very letters from Lieutenant-Governor Hutchin
son, Secretary OUver, and others, which have since
been the subject of so much discussion.
Though astonished, I could not but confess myself
convinced, and I was ready, as he desired, to convince
my countrymen ; for I saw, I felt indeed by its effect
upon myseff, the tendency it must have towards a
reconcUiation, which for the common good I earnestly
wished; it appeared, moreover, my duty to give my
constituents intelUgence of such importance to their
affairs ; but there was some difficulty, as this gentleman
would not permit copies to be taken of the letters ; and,
if that could have been done, the authenticity of those
copies might have been doubted and disputed. My
simple account of them, as papers I had seen, would have
been stUl less certam ; I therefore wished to have the
use of the originals for that purpose, which I at length
obtamed, on these express conditions ; that they should

412 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS
not be printed; that no copies should be taken of
thera ; that they should be shown only to a few of the
leading people of the governraent ; and that they should
be carefully returned.
I accepted those conditions, and under the same
transraitted the original letters to the Committee of Cor
respondence at Boston, without taking or reserving any
copy of them for myseff. I agreed the more wilUngly
to the restraint, frora an apprehension, that a pubUcation
might, considering the state of irritation in which the
rainds of the people there had long been kept, occasion
some riot of mischievous consequence. I had no other
scruple in sending thera, for, as they had been handed
about here to injure that people, why not use them for
their advantage ? The writers, too, had taken the same
Uberty with the letters of others, transmitting hither those
of Rosne and Auchmuty in confirmation of their own
calumnies against the Araericans ; copies of sorae of
mine, too, had been retumed here by officers of govem
ment. Why, then, should theirs be exempt frora the
same treatraent? To whora they had been directed
here I could only conjecture ; for I was not informed,
and there was no address upon thera when I received
them. My letter, in which I enclosed them, expressed
more fully the motives above raentioned for sending
them, and I shaU presently give an extract of so much
of it as related to thera.
But as it has, on the contrary, been roundly asserted
that I did not, as agent, transrait those letters to the
Assembly's Coraraittee of Correspondence ; that I sent
thera to a junto, my peculiar correspondents ; that, fear
ing to be known as the person who sent them, I had
insisted on the keeping that circumstance a secret ; that
I had " shown the utmost solicitude to have that secret
kept"; and, as this has been urged as a demonstrative

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 413
proof, that I was conscious of guilt m the manner of
obtaining them, and therefore feared a discovery so
much as to have been afraid of puttmg my narae to
the letter in which I enclosed them, and which only
appeared to be mine by my weU-known handwriting ;
I would here, previous to that extract, observe, that on
the same paper was first written the copy of a preced-
mg letter, which had been first signed by me as usual ;
and accordingly, the letter now in question began with
these words, " The above is a copy of my last ; " and
all the first part of it was on busmess transacted by
me relating to the affairs of the province, and partic
ularly to two petitions sent to me as agent by the As
sembly, to be presented to the Kmg. These circum
stances must to every person there have as clearly
shown me to be the writer of that letter, as my loell-
knoion hand must have done to those peculiar corre
spondents of my own, to whom it is said I sent it. K
then I hoped to be concealed by not signmg my name
to such a letter, I must have been as sUly as that bird,
which is supposed to think itself unseen when it has
hid only its head. And, if I could depend on my cor
respondents' keepmg secret a letter and a transaction,
which they must needs know were mine, I might as
weU have ti-usted them with my name, and could have
had no motive for omitting it. In truth, aU I insisted
on was (m pursuance of my engageraent), that the
letters should not be printed or copied ; but I had not
at the time the least thought or desire of keeping my
part in that transaction a secret ; and, therefore, so far
from requestmg it, I did not so much as give the small
est intimation, even that it would be agreeable to me
not to be mentioned on the occasion. And, if I had
had that inclination, I must have been very weak in
deed to fancy, that the person I wrote to, all the rest
II*

414 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
of the Commiitee of Correspondence, five other persons
naraed, and " such others as the Committee might think
fit to show them to," with three gentlemen here to
whora I had coramunicated the matter, should aU keep
as a secret on my account what I did not state as a se
cret, or request should be concealed.
So much of the letter as relates to the Governor's
letters is as foUows.
" On this occasion I think it fit to acquaint you, that
there has lately faUen into my hands part of a corre
spondence, that I have reason to beUeve laid the founda
tion of raost, if not all, our present grievances. I am
not at liberty to teU through what channel I received it ;
and I have engaged that it shaU not be printed, nor
copies taken of the whole, or any part of it ; but I am
aUowed to let it be seen by sorae men of worth in the
province, for their satisfaction only. In confidence of
your preserving inviolably my engagement, I send you
enclosed the original letters, to obviate every pretence
of unfairness in copying, interpolation, or omission. The
hands of the gentleraen wUl be weU known. Possibly
they may not like such an exposal of their conduct,
however tenderly and privately it may be managed.
But, if they are good men, or pretend to be such, and
agree that all good men wish a good understanding and
harmony to subsist between ihe colonies and iheir moth
er country, they ought the less to regret, that, at the
sraaU expense of their reputation for sincerity and pub
Uc spirit araong their compatriots, so desirable an event
may in some degree be forwarded. For my own part,
I cannot but acknowledge, that my resentment against
this country, for its arbitrary measures in goveming us,
conducted by the late minister, has, since my conviction
by these papers that those measures were projected,
advised, and called for by men of character among

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 415
ourselves, and whose advice must therefore be attended
with aU the weight that was proper to mislead, and
which could therefore scarce fail of misleading ; my
own resentment, I say, has by this means been ex
ceedingly abated. I think they must have the same
ej^ect with you ; but I ara not, as I have said, at Uberty
to raake the letters pubUc. I can only aUow thera to
be seen by yourself, by the other gentlemen of the
Committee of Correspondence, by Messrs. Bowdoin and
Pitts of the Council, and Drs. Chauncy, Cooper, and
Winthrop, with a few such other gentlemen as you
may think fit to show them to. After being sorae
months in your possession, you are requested to retura
them to me.
"As to the writers, I can easily as weU as charitably
conceive it possible, that men educated in preposses
sions of the unbounded authority of Parliament, &c.
may think unjustifiable every opposition even to its un
constitutional exactions, and imagine it their duty to
suppress, as much as in them lies, such opposition.
But, when I find them bartering away the liberties of
their native country for posts, and negotiating for sala
ries and pensions extorted from the people ; and, con
scious of the odium these might be attended with, caU
ing for troops to protect and secure the enjoyment of
them ; when I see them exciting jealousies in the crown,
and provoking it to work against so great a part of its
most faithful subjects; creating enmities between the
different countries of which the empire consists ; occa
sioning a great expense to the old country for suppress
ing or preventing imaginary rebelUons in the new, and
to the new country for the payment of needless grati
fications to useless officers and enemies ; I cannot but
doubt their sincerity even in the poUtical principles they
profess, and deem them raere time-servers, seeking

416 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
their own private emolument, through any quantity of
public mischief; betrayers of the interest, not of their
native country only, but of the govemment they pre
tend to serve, and of the whole EngUsh empire.
" With the greatest esteem and respect, I have the
honor to be. Sir, your and the Committee's most obe
dient humble servant,
"B. Frahklin."
My next letter is of January 5th, 1773, to the same
gentieman,* beginning with these words. " I did my
self the honor of writing to you on the 2d of Decem
ber past, enclosing some original letters from persons at
Boston, which I hope got safe to hand;" and then it
goes on with other business transacted by me as agent,
and is signed with my narae as usual. In truth I never
sent an anonymmis letter to any person in America,
since my residence in London, unless where two or
more letters happened to be on the same paper, the
first a copy of a preceding letter, and the subsequent
referring to the preceding ; in that case, I may possi
bly have omitted signing more than one of them, as
unnecessary. The first letter, acknowledging the receipt of the
papers, is dated "Boston, March 24th, 1773," and be
gins thus; "I have just received your favor of the
2d December last, with the several papers enclosed,
for which I am much obliged to you. I have commu
nicated them to some of the gentiemen you mentioned.
They are of opinion, that, though it might be inconven
ient to pubUsh them, yet it might be expedient to have
copies taken and left on this side the water, as there
may be a necessity to make some use of them here
after ; however, I read to them what you wrote to me
* This gentleman was Thomas Cushing, Speaker of the House of
Representatives in Massachusetts. — Editor.

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 417
upon the occasion, and told thera I could by no means
consent copies of them or any part of them should be
taken without your express leave ; that I would write
to you upon the subject, and should strictly conform
to your directions."
The next letter, dated April 20th, 1773, begins thus ;
"I wrote you in my last, that the gentleraen, to whom
I had coraraunicated the papers you sent me under
cover of yours of the 2d of Deceraber last, were of
opinion, that they ought to be retained on this side
the water, to be hereafter eraployed as the exigency of
our affairs raay require, or at least that authenticated
copies ought to be taken before they are returned. I
shaU have, I find, a very difficult task properly to con
duct this matter, unless you obtain leave for their bemg
retained or copied. I shaU wait your directions on this
head, and hope they wiU be such as wiU be agreeable
to all the gentlemen, who unaniraously are of opinion,
that it can by no means answer any valuable purpose
to send them here for the inspection of a few persons,
barely to satisfy their curiosity."
On the 9th of March, I wrote to the same person,
not having then received the preceding letters, and
mentioned ray having written to hira on the 2d of De
ceraber and 5th of January ; and, knowing what use
was made against the people there, of every trifling
mob, and fearing lest, if the letters should contrary to
my directions be raade public, soraething more serious
of the kind might happen, I concluded that letter thus ;
" I must hope that great care will be taken to keep our
people quiet, since nothing is more wished for by our
enemies, than that by insurrections we should give a
good pretence for increasing the miUtary among us, and
putting us under raore severe restraints. And it must
be evident to aU, that by our rapidly increasing strength
VOL. IV. 63

418 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
we shaU soon become of so much importance, that none
of our just claims or privUeges wUl be, as heretofore,
unattended to, nor any security we can wish for our
rights be denied us."
Mine of May 6th begins thus ; " I have received
none of your favors, since that of November 28th. I
have since written to you of the following dates, De
cember 2d, January 5th, March 9th, and AprU 3d,
which I hope got safe to hand." Thus in two out of
three letters, subsequent to that of December 2d, which
enclosed the Governor's letters, I mentioned my writing
that letter, which shows I could have no intention of
concealing my having written it; and that therefore
the assertion of my sending it anonyraously is without
probability. In mine of June 2d, 1773, I acknowledge the re
ceipt of his letter of March 24th, and, not being able
to answer imraediately his request of leave to copy the
letters, I said nothing of them then, postponing that
subject to an opportunity which was expected two
days after, viz. June 4th, when my letter of that date
concludes thus ; " As to the letters I communicated to
you, though I have not been able to obtain leave to
take copies or pubUsh thera, I have permission to let
the originals remain with you, as long as you may think
it of any use to have the originals in possession."
In mine of July 1773, I .answer the above of
April 20th as follows; "The letters coraraunicated to
you were not merely to satisfy the curiosity of any,
but it was thought there might be a use in showing
them to some friends of the province, and even to some
of the governor's party, for their more certain informa
tion concerning his conduct and politics, though the
letters were not made quite public. I beUeve I have
since written to you, that there was no occasion to

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 419
return them speedily ; and, though I cannot obtain leave
as yet to suffer copies to be taken of them, I am al
lowed to say, that they may be shown and read to
whom and as many as you think proper."*
The same person wrote to me June 14th, 1773, in
these terms ; " I have endeavoured mviolably to keep
to your bjunctions with respect to the papers you sent
me ; I have shown them only to such persons as you
directed ; no one person, except Dr. Cooper and one
of the Committee, knows from whom they came or to
whom they were sent. I have constantly avoided men
tioning your name upon the occasion, so that it never
need be known (if you incline to keep it a secret) whom
they came from, and to whom they were sent ; and /
desire, so far as I am concerned, my name may not be
mentioned; for it may be a damage to me. I thought
it, however, my duty to communicate them as permitted,
as they contained matters of iraportance that very nearly
affected the govemment. And, notwithstanding aU my
care and precaution, it is now publicly known that such
letters are here. Considering the nuraber of peVsons
* He expressed similar sentiments in a letter to Dr. Cooper, dated
July 7th, 1773. " You mention the surprise of gentlemen," said he,
" to whom those letters have been communicated, at the restrictions with
which they were accompanied, and which they suppose render them in
capable of answering any important end. One great reason of forbid
ding their publication was an apprehension, that it might put all the
possessors of such correspondence here upon their guard, and so pre
vent the obtaining more of it. And it was imagined, that showing
the originals to so many as were named, and to a few such others as
they might think fit, would be sufficient to establish their authenticity,
and to spread through the province so just an estimation of the writers,
aa to strip them of all their deluded friends, and demolish effectuaUy
their interest and influence. The letters might be shown even to
some of the Goveroor's and Lieutenant-Governor's partisans, and spoken
of to everybody ; for there was no restraint proposed to talking of
them, but only to copying. However the terms given with them could
only be those with which they were received." — Editor.

420 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
who were to see them, (not less than ten or fifteen,) it
is astonishing they did not get air before." Then he
goes on to relate how the Assembly, having heard of
them, obUged him to produce thera, but engaged not
to print thera ; and that they afterwards did neverthe
less print them, having got over that engagement by
the appearance of copies in the House, produced by a
member, who it was reported had just received them
from England. This letter concludes ; " I have done
aU in my power strictly to conforra to your restrictions ;
but, frora the circurastances above related, you must be
sensible it was impossible to prevent the letters being
made public, and therefore hope I shaU be free from
aU blame respecting this matter."
This letter accounts for its being, unexpectedly to me,
made a secret in Boston, that I had sent the letters.
The gentleman to whora I sent thera had his reasons
for desiring not to be known as the person who re
ceived and coraraunicated them ; but as this would
have been suspected, if it were known that I sent
them', that circumstance was to be kept a secret. Ac
cordingly they were given to another, to be by him
produced by the committee.
My answer to this was of July 25th, 1773, as foUows ;
"I ara favored with yours of June 14th, containing
some copies of the resolves of the committee upon the
letters. I see by your account of the transaction, that
you could not weU prevent what was done. As to the
report of other copies being come from England, I
think that could not be. It was an expedient to dis
engage the House. I hope the possession of the
originals, and the proceedings upon thera, wiU be at
tended with salutary effects to the province, and then
I shaU be weU pleased. I observe what you mention,
that no person besides Dr. Cooper and one of the com-

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 421
mittee knew they came from me. I did not accom
pany them with any request of being myself concealed ;
for, beUevmg what I did to be in the way of my duty
as agent, though I had no doubt of its giving offence,
not only to the parties exposed, but to adrainistration
here, I was regardless of the consequences. How
ever, since the letters themselves are now copied and
printed, contrary to the proraise I made, I am glad my
name has not been heard on the occasion ; and, as I
do not see it could be of any use to the public, I now
wish it raay continue unknown, though I hardly expect
it. As to yours, you may rely on my never mention
ing it, except that I may be obliged to show your letter
in my own vindication, to the person only who might
otherwise think he had reason to blarae me for breach
of engageraent."
With the abovementioned letter of the Mth of June^
I received one from another of the gentlemen * to whora
the papers had been communicated, which says ; " By
whom and to whom they were sent is stiU a secret,
known only to three persons here, and may still re
raain so, if you desire it." My answer to him of July
25th, was; "I accorapanied thera with no restriction
relating to myself; my duty to the province as their
agent, I thought, required the communication of them
so far as I could. I was sensible I should make ene
mies there, and perhaps might offend governraent here ;
but these apprehensions I disregarded. I did not ex
pect, and hardly stiU expect, that ray sending them
could be kept a secret. But since it is such hitherto, I
now wish it may continue so ; because the publication
of the letters, contrary to my engagement, has changed
the circurastances." His reply to this, of the 10th of
* The Reverend Dr. Cooper, of Boston. — Editor.
VOL. IV. JJ

422 FRANKLIN S WRITINGS.
November, is ; " After all the soUcitous inquiries of the
govemor and his friends respecting his letters, it stUl
remains a secret frora and to whom they were sent
here. This is known, among us, to two only besides
myself; and wiU reraain undiscovered, unless further
intelligence should corae from your side the water, than
I have reason to think has yet been obtained. I can
not, however, but admire your honest openness in this
affair, and noble negligence of any inconveniences that
might arise to yourseff in this essential service to our
injured country."
To another friend * I wrote of the same date, July
25th, what wiU show the apprehensions I was constantly
under, of the mischiefs that would attend a breach from
the exasperated state of things, and the arguments I
used to prevent it ; viz. " I am glad to see that you are
elected into the council, and are about to take part in
our pubUc affairs. Your abUities, integrity, and sober
attachment to the liberties of our country, wiU be of
great use, at this tempestuous time, in conducting our
littie bark into a safe harbour. By the Boston news
papers there seera to be araong us some violent spirits,
who are for an immediate rupture. But, I trust, the
general prudence of our countrymen wUl see, that by
our growing strength we advance fast to a situation in
which our clairas must be aUowed ; that by a prema
ture stmggle we raay be crippled and kept down an
other age ; that, as between friends every affront is
not worth a duel, and between nations every injury is
not worth a war ; so between the governed and the
goveming, every mistake in government, every en
croachment on rights, is not worth a rebelUon. It is,
in my opinion, sufficient for the present that we hold
* Professor Winthrop, of Harvard College, a member of his Majesty's
Council in Massachusetts. — Editor.

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 423
them forth on aU occasions, not giving up any of them ;
using, at the sarae time, every means to make them
generally understood and valued by the people ; culti
vating a harraony araong the colonies, that their union
in the same sentiments may give thera greater weight ;
remembering withal that this Protestant country (our
mother, though of late an unkind one,) is worth pre
serving; and that her weight in the scale of Europe,
her safety, in a great degree, may depend on our union
•with her. Thus conducting, I am confident, we may
within a few years obtain every aUowance of, and every
security for, our inestimable privUeges, that we can wish
or desire."
His answer, of December 31st, is; "I concur per
fectly with you in the sentiments expressed in your
last. No considerate person, I should think, can ap
prove of desperate remedies, except in desperate cases.
The people of America are extremely agitated by the
repeated efforts of administration to subject them to
absolute power. They have been amused with ac
counts of the pacific disposition of the ministry, and
flattered with assurances, that, upon their hurable pe
titions, aU their grievances would be redressed. They
have petitioned frora time to tirae ; but their petitions
have had no other effect than to make them feel more
sensibly their own slavery. Instead of redress, every
year has produced sorae new mancEuvre, which could
have no tendency but to irritate them raore and more.
The last measure of the East India Company's sending
their tea here, subject to a duty, seems to have given
the finishing stroke to their patience. You will have
heard of the steps taken at Boston, New York, and
PhUadelphia, to prevent the payment of this duty, by
sending the tea back to its owners. But, as this was
found impossible at Boston, the destruction of the

424 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
tea was the consequence. What the event of these
comraotions wiU be, God only knows. The people
through the colonies appear iraraovably fixed in their
resolution, that the tea duty shaU never be paid ; and,
if the rainistry are determined to enforce these raeas
ures, I dread the consequences ; I verily fear they wiU
turn Araerica into a field of blood. But I wiU hope
for the best."
I ara told, that adrainistration is possessed of raost
of ray letters sent or received on pubUc affairs for some
years past ; copies of them having been obtained from
the files of the several assemblies, or as they passed
through the post-office. I do not condemn their min
isterial industry or coraplain of it. The foregoing ex
tracts may be compared with those copies ; and I
can appeal to thera with confidence, that, upon such
comparison, these extracts wiU be found faithfuUy
made ; and that the whole tenor of my letters has
been, to persuade patience and a careful guarding
against aU violence, under the grievances complained
of, and this frora various considerations, such as, that
the welfare of the erapire depended upon the union of
its parts ; that the sovereign was weU disposed towards
us, and the body of this nation our friends and weU-
wishers ; that it was the ministry only who were prej
udiced against us ; that the sentiments of ministers
might in time be changed, or the rainisters themselves
be changed ; or that, if those chances faUed, at least
time would infaUibly brirg redress, since the strength,
weight, and iraportance of Araerica were continually
and rapidly increasing, and its friendship, of course,
daily becoming more valuable, and more likely to be
cultivated by an attention to its rights. The newspa
pers have announced, that treason is found in some of
ray letters. It must, then, be of some new species.

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 425
The invention of court lawyers has always been fruitful
m the discovery of new treasons ; and perhaps it is
now become treason to censure the conduct of minis
ters. None of any other kind, I am sure, can be found
in my correspondence.*
The effect of the governor's letters on the minds
of the people in New England, when they carae to
be read there, was precisely what had been expected,
and proposed by sending them over. It was now seen,
that the grievances, which had been so deeply resented
"* The foregoing statement was made to repel the abusive and false
charges in Mr. Wedderburn's speech before the Privy Council, respect
ing the manner in which Hutchinson's letters were transmitted to Bos
ton by Dr. Franklin.
" If the desiring of secrecy be proof," said Mr. Wedderburn, " and the
measure of guilt, what then are we to think of Dr. Franklin's case ;
whose whole conduct in this affair has been secret and mysterious, and
who, through the whole course of it, has discovered the utmost solicitude
to keep it so.' My Lords, my accounts say, that when these letters
were sent over to Boston, so very desirous was Dr. Franklin of secrecy,
that he did not choose to set his name to the letter which accompanied
them. This anonymous letter expressly ordered, that it should be shown
to none but to a junto of six persons. If the Doctor choose it, I will
name the six. The direction of every letter was erased, and strict orders
were given, that they should be carefully returned again to London.
The manner in which they were brought into the Assembly, all showed
the most earnest desire of concealment. Under these mysterious cir
cumstances have the Assembly passed their censures, and voted this
address to his Majesty against Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Ohver, upon
account of a parcel of letters directed to somebody, they know not
¦whom, and sent from somebody, they know not where." Again ; " My
Lords, when an agent means to write to the Assembly, he addresses his
letter to the Speaker, to be communicated to the House. And the Doc
tor knows, that there are many articles in the Journals of this tenor ;
' A letter frora Dr. Franklin to the Speaker was read.' But the course
taken with these letters was just the reverse of this. The letter which
came with them was anonymous, though the hand was well known;
too well perhaps known to tlie selected few, who only were to be al
lowed the sight of it. Since, therefore, the Doctor has told us, that he
transmitted these letters to his constituents, we know now who they are.
His constituents, by his own account, must be this particular junto ; for
to them, and them only, were the letters communicated." — Wedderlum^s
Speech. — Editor.
VOL. IV. 54 JJ*

426 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
as measures of the mother country, were in fact the
measures of two or three of their own people ; of
course aU that resentment was withdrawn from her,
and feU where it was proper it should faU, on the
heads of those caitiffs, who were the authors of the
mischief. Both Houses* took up the matter in this
light ; and the House of Representatives agreed to the
foUowing resolves, reported by the committee appointed
to consider the letters ; viz.
" The Committee appointed to consider certain Letters laid be
fore the House of Representatives, reported the following
Resolves. "Tuesday, June 15th, 1773.
" Resolved, That the letters signed Tho. Hutchinson and Andw.
Oliver, now under the consideration of this House, appear to be
the genuine letters of the present governor and lieutenant-governor
pf this province, whose handwriting and signatures are well known
to many of the members of this House; and that they contain agJ,
gravated accounts of facts and misrepresentations ; and that one
manifest design of them was to represent the matters they treat of
in a light highly irijurious to this province, and the persons against)
whom they were written. '
" Resolved, That, though the letters aforesaid, signed Tho.
Hutchinson, are said by the governor in his message to this House
of June 9th, to be 'private letters written to a gentleman in Lon
don, since deceased,' and ' that all except the last were written
many months before he came to the chair ' ; yet that they were
written by the present governor, when he was lieutenant-governor
and chief justice of this province; who has been represented
abroad as eminent for Ms abilities, as for his exalted station ; and
was under no official obligation to transmit private intelligence;
and that they therefore must be considered by the person to whom
they were sent, as documents of solid intelligence; and that this
gentleman in London, to whom they were written, was then a
member of the British Parliament, and one who was very active
in American affairs ; and therefore that these letters, however se
cretly written, must naturally be supposed to have, and really had,
a public operation.
* That is, the Council and House of Representatives of Massachu
setts. — Editor.

HUTCHINSON'SLETTERS. 427
" Resolved, That these ' private letters ' being written ' with
express confidence of secrecy ' was only to prevent the contents
of thera being known here, as appears by said letters ; and this
rendered them the more injurious in their tendency, and really
insidious. " Resolved, That the letters signed Tho. Hutchinson, consider.
ing the person by whom they were written, the matters they ex
pressly contain, the express reference in some of them for ' full
intelligence ' to Mr. Hallowell, a person deeply interested in the
measures so much complained of, and recommendatory notices of
divers other persons, whose emoluments arising from our public
burdens must excite them to unfavorable representations of us,
the measures they suggest, the temper in which they were written,
the manner in which they were sent, and the person to whom they
were addressed, had a natural and efficacious tendency to interrupt
and alienate the affections of our most gracious sovereign King
George the Third, from this his loyal and affectionate province;
to destroy that harmony and good-will between Great Britain and
this colony, which every friend to either would wish to establish ;
to excite the resentment of the British administration against this
province ; to defeat the endeavours of our agents and friends to
serve us by a fair representation of our state of grievances; to pre
vent our humble and repeated petitions frora reaching the royal
ear of our common sovereign ; and to produce the severe and de
structive measures, which have been taken against this province,
and others still more so, which have been threatened.
" Resolved, As the opinion of this House, that it clearly appears
from the letters aforesaid, signed Tho. Hutchinson and Andw. Oli
ver, that it was the desire and endeavour of the writers of them,
that certain acts of the British Parliament for raising a revenue in
America, might be carried into effect by military force ; and, by
introducing a fleet and army into this his Majesty's loyal province,
to intimidate the minds of his subjects here, and prevent every
constitutional measure to obtain the repeal of those acts, so justly
esteemed a grievance to us, and to suppress the very spirit of
freedom. " Resolved, That it is the opinion of this House, that, as the
salaries lately appointed for the governor, lieutenant-governor, and
judges of this province, directly repugnant to the charter, and sub
versive of justice, are founded on this revenue ; and as these let
ters were written with a design, and had a tendency, to promote
and support that revenue, therefore there is great reason to suppose
the writers of those letters were well Jcnowing to, suggested, and

428 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
promoted the enacting said revenue acts, and the establishments
founded on the same.
" Resolved, That, while the writer of these letters, signed Tho.
Hutchinson, has been thus exerting himself, by his ' secret confi
dential correspondence,' to introduce measures destructive of our
constitutional liberty, he has been practising every method among
the people of this province, to fix in their minds an exalted opinion
of his warmest affection for them, and his unremitted endeavours
to promote their best interests at the court of Great Britain.
" Resolved, as the opinion of this House, That, by coraparing
these letters, signed Tho. Hutchinson, with those signed Andw.
OUver, Cha. Paxton, and Nath. Rogers, and considering what has
since in fact taken place conformable thereto, that there have been
for many ycars past measures contemplated, and a plan formed, hy
a set of men born and educated among us, to raise their own for
tunes, and advance themselves to posts of honor and profit, not
only to the destruction of the charter and constitution of this prov
ince, but at the expense of the rights and liberties of the American
colonies. And it is further the opinion of this House, that the
said persons have been some of the chief instruments in the intro
duction of a military force into the province, to carry their plans
into execution ; and, therefore, they have been not only greatly in
strumental in disturbing the peace and harmony of the government,
and causing and promoting great discord and animosities, but are
justly chargeable with the great corruption of morals, and all that
confusion, misery, and bloodshed, which have been the natural effects
of the introduction of troops.
" Whereas, for many years past, measures have been taken by
the British administration, very grievous to the good people of this
province, which this House have now reason to suppose were pro
moted, if not originally suggested, by the writers of these letters;
and many efforts have been made by the people to obtain the re
dress of their grievances ;
" Resolved, That it appears to this House, that the writers of
these letters have availed themselves of disorders that naturally
arise in a free government under such oppressions, as arguments
to prove, that it was originally necessary such measures should
have been taken, and that they should now be continued and
increased. " Whereas, in the letter signed Cha, Paxton, dated Boston Har
bour, June 20th, 1768, it is expressly declared, that ' unless we have
immediately two or three regiments, it is the opinion of all the
friends of government, that Boston will be in open rebellion ; '

HUTCHINSON'S LET^TERS. 429
" Resolved, That this is a most wicked and injurious represen
tation, designed to inflame the minds of his Majesty's ministers
and the nation ; and to excite in the breast of our sovereign a
jealousy of his loyal subjects of said town, without the least grounds
therefor, as enemies of his Majesty's person and government.
" Whereas, certain letters by two private persons, signed T.
Moffat and G. Rome, have been laid before the House, which
letters contain many matters highly injurious to government, and
to the national peace;
" Resolved, That it has been the misfortune of their government,
from the earliest period of it, from time to time, to be secretly tra
duced and maliciously represented to the British ministry, by per
sons who were neither friendly to this colony nor to the English
constitution. " Resolved, That this House have just reason to complain of it
as a very great grievance, that the humble petitions and remon
strances of the commons of this province are not allowed to reach
the hands of our most gracious sovereign, merely because they are
presented by an agent, to whose appointment the governor, with
whom our chief dispute may subsist, doth not consent ; while the
partial and inflammatory letters of individuals, who are greatly
interested in the revenue acts, and the measures taken to carry
them into execution, have heen laid before administration, attended
to, and determined upon, not only to the injury of the reputation
of the people, but to the depriving them of their invaluable rights
and liberties.
" Whereas, this House are humbly of opinion, that his Majesty
will judge it to be incompatible with the interest of his crown, and
the peace and safety of the good people of this his loyal province,
that persons should be continued in places of high trust and au
thority in it, who are known to have with great industry, though
secretly, endeavoured to undermine, alter, and overthrow the con
stitution of the province ; therefore,
" Resolved, That this House is bound, in duty to the King and
their constituents, humbly to remonstrate to his Majesty the con
duct of his Excellency Thomas Hutchinson, Esquire, Governor,
and the Honorable Andrew Oliver, Esquire, liieutenant-Governor,
of this province ; and to pray that his Majesty would be pleased
to remove them for ever from the government thereof" *
•* The House of Representatives adopted these Resolves, as here
reported, by a large majority. The Council almost unanimously passed
a series of Resolves, on the 25th of June, embodying similar senti
ments. — Editor.

430 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Upon these Resolutions was founded the following
petition, transmitted to rae to be presented to his Maj
esty. "to the king's most excellent majesty.
"Most Gracious Sovereign,
'•¦ We, your Majesty's loyal subjects, the representatives of your
ancient colony of Massachusetts Bay, in General Court legally as
sembled, by virtue of your Majesty's writ under the hand and seal
of the Governor, beg leave to lay this our humble petition before
your Majesty.
" Nothing but the sense of duty we owe to our sovereign, and
the obligation we are under to consult the peace and safety of the
province, could induce us to remonstrate to your Majesty concern
ing the mal-conduct of persons, who have heretofore had the confi
dence and esteem of this people ; and whom your Majesty has been
pleased, from the purest motives of rendering your subjects happy,
to advance to the highest places of trust and authority in the
province. " Your Majesty's humble petitioners, with the deepest concern
and anxiety, have seen the discords and animosities which have too
long subsisted between your subjects of the parent state and those
of the American colonies. And we have trembled with apprehen
sions, that the consequences, naturally arising therefrom, would at
length prove fatal to both countries.
" Permit us humbly to suggest to your Majesty, that your subjects
here have been inclined to believe, that the grievances which they
have suffered, and still continue to suffer, have been occasioned by
your Majesty's ministers and principal servants being, unfortunately
for us, misinformed in certain facts of very interesting importance
to us. It is for this reason, that former assemblies have, from time
to time, prepared a true state of facts to be laid before your Maj
esty; but their humble remonstrances and petitions, it is presumed,
have by some means been prevented from reaching your royal
hand. " Your Majesty's petitioners have very lately had before them
certain papers, from which they humbly conceive it is most rea
sonable to suppose, that there has been long a conspiracy of evil
men in this province, who have contemplated measures, and formed
a plan, to advance themselves to power, and raise their own for
tunes, by means destructive of the charter of the province, at the
expense of the quiet of the nation, and to the annihilating of the
rights and liberties of the American colonies.

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 431
" And we do, with all due submission lo your Majesty, beg leave
particularly to complain of the conduct of his Excellency Thomas
Hutchinson, Esquire, Governor, and the Honorable Andrew Oliver,
Esquire, Lieutenant-Governor of this your Majesty's province, as
having a natural and efficacious tendency to interrupt and alienate
the affections of your Majesty, our rightful sovereign, from this
your loyal province ; to destroy that harmony and good-will between
Great Britain and this colony, which every honest subject should
strive to establish ; to excite the resentment of the British admin
istration against this province ; to defeat the endeavours of our
agents and friends to serve us by a fair representation of our state
of facts ; to prevent our humble and repeated petitions from reach
ing the ear of your Majesty, or having their desired effect. And,
finally, that the said Thomas Hutchinson and Andrew Oliver have
been among the chief instruments in introducing a fleet and army
into this province, to establish and perpetuate their plans, whereby
they have been, not only greatly instrumental in disturbing the
peace and harmony of the government, and causing unnatural and
hateful discords and animosities between the several parts of your
Majesty's extensive dominions, but are justly chargeable with all
that corruption of morals, and all that confusion, misery, and blood
shed, which have been the natural effects of posting an army in
a populous town.
" Wherefore we most humbly pray, that your Majesty would be
pleased to remove from their posts in this government the said
Thomas Hutchinson, Esquire, and Andrew Oliver, Esquire ; who
have, by their aboveraentioned conduct, and otherwise, rendered
themselves justly obnoxious to your loving subjects, and entirely
lost their confidence; and place such good and faithful men in
their stead, as your Majesty in your wisdom shall think fit.
"In the narae and by order of the House of Representatives.
" Thomas Cushing, Speaker."
Lord Dartmouth, Secretary of State for the colonies,
being in the country when I received this petition, I
transmitted it to his Lordship, enclosed in a letter, of
which the followmg is a copy, as also of his answer.
"to the right honorable the earl or DARTMOUTH.
"London, August 21st, 1773.
"My Lord,
" I have just received, from the House of Representatives of the
Massachusetts Bay, their address to the King, which I now enclose,

432 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
and send to your Lordship, with my humble request in their behalf,
that you would be pleased to present it to his Majesty the first
convenient opportunity.
" I have the pleasure of hearing from that province by my late
letters, that a sincere disposition prevails in the people there to
be on good terms with the mother country ; that the Assembly have
declared their desire only to be put into the situation they were in
before the Stamp Act. They aim at no novelties. And it is said,
that, having lately discovered, as they think, the authors of their
grievances to be some of their own people, their resentment against
Britain is thence much abated.
" This good disposition of theirs (will your Lordship permit me
to say) may be cultivated by a favorable answer to this address,
which I therefore hope your goodness will endeavour to obtain.
With the greatest respect, I have the honor to be, my Lord, &c.,
"B. Franklin,
"Agent for the House of Representatives."
" lord Dartmouth's answer.
" Sandwell, 25th of August, 1773.
" Sir,
" I have received your letter of the 21st instant, together with
an address of the House of Representatives of the Massachusetts
Bay, which I shall not fail to lay before the King the next time
I shall have the honor of being admitted into his presence. I
cannot help expressing to you the pleasure it gives me to hear, that
a sincere disposition prevails in the people of that province to be
on good terms with the mother country, and my earnest hope that
the time is at no great distance, when every ground of uneasi
ness will cease, and the most perfect tranquUlity and happiness
be restored to the breasts of that people.
" I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, " Dartmouth.
" Benjamin Franklin, Esq."
No one, who knows Lord Dartmouth, can doubt the
sincerity of the good wishes expressed in his letter to
me ; and, if his Majesty's other servants had fortu
nately been possessed of the same benevolent dispo
sitions, with as much of that attention to the public
interest, and dexterity in managing it, as statesmen of
this country generally show in obtaining and securing

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 433
their places, here was a fine opportunity put into their
hands of "reestablishing the union and harmony that
formerly subsisted between Great Britain and her col
onies," so necessary to the weffare of both, and upon
the easy condition of only "restoring things to the state
they were in at the conclusion of the late war." This
was a solemn declaration sent over from the province
most aggrieved, in which they acquitted Britain of their
grievances, and charged them aU upon a few individuals
of their own country. Upon the heads of these very
mischievous men they deprecated no vengeance, though
that of the whole nation was justly merited ; they con
sidered it as an hard thing for an adramistration to
punish a governor who had acted from orders, though
the orders had been procured by his misrepresentations
and calumnies; they therefore only petitioned, "that
his Majesty would be pleased to remove Thomas
Hutchinson, Esquire, and Andrew OUver, Esquire, from
their posts in that govemment, and place good and
faithful men in their stead." These men might have
been placed or pensioned elsewhere, as others have
been ; or, like the scape-goats of old, they might have
carried away into the wUderness all the offences which
have arisen between the two countries, with the bur
dens of which, they, having been the authors of these
mischiefs, were most justly chargeable.
But this opportunity ministers had not the wisdom
to erabrace ; they chose rather to reject it, and to abuse
and punish me for giving it. A court clamor was raised
against me as an incendiary ; and the very action upon
which I valued myseff, as it appeared to me a means
of lessening our differences, I was unlucky enough to
find charged upon me, as a wicked attempt to increase
them. Strange perversion!
VOL. IV. 55 KK

434 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
I was, it seeras, equally unlucky in another action,
which I also intended for a good one, and which
brought on the aboveraentioned claraor. The news
being arrived here of the pubUcation of those letters in
Araerica, great mquiry was raade, who had transmitted
thera. Mr. Teraple, a gentieman of the customs, was
accused of it in the papers. He vindicated himself.
A pubUc altercation ensued upon it between him and
a Mr. Whately, brother and executor to the person to
whom it was supposed the letters had been originaUy
written, and who was suspected by some of commu
nicating them ; on the supposition, that by his broth
er's death they might have faUen into his hands. As
the gentleraan, to whora I sent thera, had, in his letter
to me above recited, given an important reason for his
desiring it should be concealed, that he was the person
who received them, and had for the sarae reason chosen
not to let it be known I sent thera, I suffered that al
tercation to go on without interfering, supposing it would
end, as other newspaper controversies usually do, when
the parties and the public should be tired of them.
But this dispute unexpectedly and suddenly produced
a duel. The gentiemen were parted; Mr. Whately
was wounded, but not dangerously. This, however,
alarmed me, and made me wish I had prevented it ;
but, imagining aU now over between them, I stiU kept
silence, tiU I heard that the duel was understood to be
unfinished, (as having been interrupted by persons ac
cidentally near,) and that it would probably be repeated
as soon as Mr. Whately, who was mending daily, had
recovered his strength. I then thought it high time to
interpose ; and, as the quarrel was for the pubUc opin
ion, I took what I thought the shortest way to settle
that opinion, with regard to the parties, by pubUshing
what foUows.

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 435

"to the printer of the public advertiser.
" Sir,
" Finding that two gentlemen have been unfortunately engaged
in a duel, about a transaction and its circurastances, of which both
of them are totally ignorant and innocent ; I think it incumbent
upon me to declare (for the prevention of farther mischief, as far
as such a declaration may contribute to prevent it), that I alone am
tbe person who obtained and transmitted to Boston the letters
in question. Mr. W. could not communicate them, because they
were never in his possession ; and, for the same reason, they could
not be taken from him by Mr. T. They were not of the nature
oi private letters between friends. They were written by public
officers to persons in public stations, on public affairs, and intended
to procure public measures ; they were therefore handed to other
public persons, who might be influenced by them to produce those
measures. Their tendency was to incense the mother country
against her colonies, and, by the steps recommended, to widen the
breach ; which they effected. The chief caution expressed with
regard to privacy was, to keep their contents from the colony
agents, who, the writers apprehended, might return them, or copies
of them to America. That apprehension was, it seems, well
founded ; for the first agent who laid his hands on them, thought
it his duty* to transmit them to his constituents.
" B. Franklin,
" Agent for the House of Representatives
of Massachusetts Bay.
« Craven Street, December 25th, 1773."
This declaration of raine was at first generally ap
proved, except that some blamed me for not having
made it sooner, so as to prevent the duel ; but I had
not the gfft of prophecy ; I could not foresee that the
gentlemen would fight; I did not even foresee that
either of them could possibly take it iU of me. I hn-
agined I was doing them a good office, in clearing both
* In remarking on this word as here used, Dr. Frankhn said, in a
note found in his handwriting; "Governor Hutchinson, as appears by
his letters, since found and published in New England, had the same
idea of duty, when he procured copies of Dr. Franklm's letters to the
Assembly, and sent them to the ministry of England."— Editor.

436 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
of them from suspicion, and removmg the cause of their
difference. I should have thought it natural for them
both to have thanked rae ; but I was mistaken as to
one of them. His wound perhaps at first prevented
hira, and afterwards he was tutored probably to another
kind of behaviour by his court connexions.
My only acquaintance with this gentleman, Mr. Wil
liam Whately, was from an application he made to me
to do him the favor of inquiring after some land in
Pennsylvania, supposed to have been purchased an
ciently frora the first proprietor, by a Major Thorason,
his grandfather, of which they had some imperfect
memorandums in the famUy, but knew not whether it
might not have been sold or conveyed away by him in
his lifetirae, as there was no mention of it in his wUl.
I took the trouble of writing, accordingly, to a friend of
mine, an eminent lawyer there, weU acquainted with such
business, desiring him to make the inquiry. He took
some pains in it at ray request, and succeeded ; and
in a letter informed me, that he had found the land ;
that the proprietary clairaed it, but he thought the tide
was clear to the heir of Thorason ; that he could easUy
recover it for hira, and would undertake it, if Mr.
Whately should think fit to employ hira ; or, ff he
should rather choose to seU it, my friend empowered
me to make him an offer of five thousand pounds ster
Ung for it. With this letter I waited upon him about
a month before the duel, at his house in Lombard
Street, the first time I had ever been in it. He was
pleased with the inteUigence, and caUed upon me once
or twice afterwards to concert the means of making
out his titie.
I mention some of these circumstances to show,
that it was not through any previous acquaintance with
him that I came to the knowledge of the famous letters :

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS, 437
for they had been in America near a year before I so
much as knew where he lived ; and the others I men
tion to show his gratitude. I could have excused his
not thankmg me for sparing hira a second hazard of
his Ufe ; for, though he might feel himseff served, he
might also apprehend, that to seem pleased would look
as if he was afraid of fighting again ; or perhaps he
did not value his life at any thing ; but the addition to
his fortune one would think of some value to a banker ;
and yet the retum this worthy gentieman raade rae for
both favors was, without the smaUest previous notice,
warning, complaint, or request to me, directly or indi
rectly, to clap upon my back a chancery suit.
His biU set forth, " That he was adrainistrator of the
goods and chattels of his late brother Thomas Whate
ly; that some letters had been written to his said
brother by the Governors Hutchinson and Oliver ; that
those letters had been in the custody of his said brother
at the time of his death, or had been by him delivered
to some other person for perusal, and to be by such
person safely kept and retumed to said Thomas Whate
ly ; that the same had by some means corae into ray
hands ; that, to prevent a discovery, I, or some per
son by my order, had erased the address of the let
ters to the said Thoraas Whately; that, carrying on
the trade of a printer, I had, by ray agents or confed
erates, printed and published the same letters in Amer
ica, and disposed of great numbers ; that I threatened
to print and sell the same in England; and that he
had applied io me to deUver up to him the said letters,
and aU copies thereof, and desist from printing and
publishing the same, and account with him for the
profits thereof; and he was in hopes I would have
coraplied with such request, but so ii was ihat I had
refused, &c., contrary to equity and good conscience,
KK*

438 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
and to the manifest injury and oppression of him, the
complainant ; and praying my Lord ChanceUor, that I
might be obUged to discover how I came by the letters,
what number of copies I had printed and sold, and to
account ivith him for the profits," &c. &c. The gen
tleman himself must have known, that every circum
stance of this was totally false ; that of his brother's
having delivered the letters io some other person for
perusal excepted. Those as Uttle acquainted with law
as I was, (who indeed never before had a lawsuit of
any kind,) may wonder at this as much as I did ;
but I have now learnt, that in chancery, though the
defendant must swear the truth of every point in his
answer, the plaintiff is not put to his oath, or obUged
to have the least regard to truth in his bUl, but is al
lowed to Ue as much as he pleases. I do not under
stand this, unless it be for the encouragement i of
business. My answer upon oath was, "That the letters in
question were given to me, and came into my hgtods,
as agent for the House of Representatives of the Prov
ince of Massachusetts Pay ; that, when given to me,
I did not knovir to whom they had been addressed,
no address appearing upon them ; nor did I know be
fore that any such letters existed ; that I had not been
for many years concerned in printing ; that I did not
cause the letters to be printed, nor direct the doing it ;
that I did not erase any address that raight have been
on the letters, nor did I know that any other person
had made such erasure ; that I did, as agent to the
province, transmit (as I apprehended it my duty to do)
the said letters to one of the comraittee, with whom I
had been directed to correspond, inasmuch as in my
judgjjient they related to matters of great public im
portance to that province, and were put into my hands

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 439
for that purpose ; that I had never been applied to
by the complainant, as asserted in his biU, and had
made no profits of the letters, nor intended to make
any," &c.
It was about this time become evident, that aU
thoughts (^ reconciliation with the colony of the Mas
sachusetts Bay, by attention to their petitions, and a
redress of their grievances, was laid aside ; that sever
ity was resolved ; and that the decrying and viUfying
the people of that country, and me tiieir agent, among
the rest, was quite a court measure. It was the ton
with aU the ministerial foUcs to abuse them and me, in
every company, and in every newspaper ; and it was
intimated to me, as a thing settled, long before it hap
pened, that the petition for removal of the govemors
was to be rejected, the Assembly censured, and my
self, who had presented it, was to be punished by the
loss of my place in the post-office.* For all this I
was therefore prepared; but the attack from Mr.
Whately was, I own, a surprise to me ; under the
abovementioned circumstances of obligation, and with
out the sUghtest provocation, I could not have imag
ined any man base enough to commence, of his oum
motion, such a vexatious suit against me. But a littie
accidental information served to throw some Ught upon
the business. An acquaintance f caUing on me, after
having just been at the treasury, showed me what he
styled a pretty thing, for a friend of his ; it was an
order for one hundred and fifty pounds, payable to Dr.
Samuel Johnson, said to be one half of his yearly pen
sion, and drawn by the secretary of the treasury on

* For several years Dr. Franklin had held the office of Deputy Post
master-General of the Colonies. — Editor.
f William Strahan, Member of Parliament, and King's Printer. —
W. T. F.

440 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
this sarae Mr. Whately. I then considered hira as a
banker to the treasury for the pension money, and
thence as having an interested connexion with the ad
ministration, that might induce him to act by direction
of others in harassing rae with this suit; which gave
me if possible a still meaner opinion of him, than if
he had done it of his own accord.
What further steps he or his' confederates, the min
isters, wiU take in this cause, I know not. I do not
indeed believe the banker hiraself, ifinding there are no
profits to be shared, would wiUingfy lay out a sixpence
more upon the suit; but then ray finances are not
sufficient to cope at law with the treasury here ; es
pecially when adrainistration has taken care to prevent
my constituents of New England frora paymg me any
salary, or reimbursing me any expenses, by a special
instruction to the governor, not to sign any warrant for
thai purpose on ihe treasury there.
The injustice of thus depriving the people there of
the use of their own money, to pay an agent acting in
their defence, whUe the governor, with a large salary
out of the money extorted from them by act of Par
Uament, was enabled to pay plentifuUy Mauduit and
Wedderburn to abuse and defame them and their
agent, is so evident as to need no comment. But this
they caU government!

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 441

NOTE BY THE EDITOR,
CONTAINING OTHER PARTICULARS RESPECTING HUTCHINSON'S
LETTERS.
Much curiosity has been expressed, and much inquiry made, as
to the mode in which Dr. Franklin obtained possession of these
letters ; but nothing more is positively known on this point, than
what he has related in the preceding narrative. Having received
them under an injunction of secrecy, and a solemn pledge not to
reveal the names of the persons concerned, he maintained a perfect
silence on the subject to the end of his life. It is not certain from
any facts hitherto published, that he was hiraself informed of the
manner in which they were procured, or the place where they were
found. It is indeed probable, that he was purposely kept ignorant
of these particulars, that he might not in any event be involved in
personal difficulties on their account. This may be inferred from
the circumstance, that, when the letters were put into his hands,
the name of the person to whom they had been addressed was
erased. Their genuineness was proved by the handwriting, and
the signatures of their authors, which were familiar to him.
In the year 1820, Dr. Hosack, of New York, published a Bio
graphical Memoir of Dr. Hugh Williamson, a gentleman well
known for his scientific attainments. In that Memoir the author
endeavours to establish the fact, on what he deems good authority,
that Dr. Williamson was the person, who obtained the letters in
question, and communicated them to Dr. Franklin. The following
is Dr. Hosack's statement.
" Dr. Williamson had now arrived in London. Feeling a lively
interest in the momentous questions then agitated, and suspecting
that a clandestine correspondence, hostile to the interest of the
colonies, was carried on between Hutchinson and certain leading
members of the British Cabinet, he determined to ascertain the
truth by a bold experiment.
" He had learned, that Governor Hutchinson's letters were de
posited in an office different from that in which they ought regu
larly to have been placed; and, having understood that there was
little exactness in the transaction of the business of that office,
(it is believed it was the office of a particular department of the
Treasury,) he immediately repaired to it, and addressed himself to
the chief clerk, not finding the principal within. Assuming the
demeanor of official importance, he peremptorily stated, that he had
VOL. IV. 56

442 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
corae for the last letters that had been received from Governor
Hutchinson and Mr. Oliver, noticing the office in which they ought
regularly to have been placed. Without any question bemg asked,
the letters were delivered. The clerk doubtless supposed him to
be an authorized person from some other public office. Dr. Wil
liamson immediately carried them to Dr. Franklin, and the next
day left London for Holland.
"I received this important fact from a gentleman of high re
spectability now living ; with whom, as the companion and friend
of his early days. Dr. Williamson had intrusted the secret."
Dr. Hosack inserts a letter from this gentleman, dated October
26th, 1819, containing the facts here related, in which the writer
says he received them from Dr. Williamson himself, " some time
after his return frora Europe." But there are circurastances which
would seem to prove, that this gentleman either misunderstood
Dr. Williamson, or that in the lapse of thirty or forty years his
memory had confounded this subject with some other of a different
kind. Such an inference is necessarily made from a comparison
of dates.
The letter written by Dr. Franklin to Thomas Cushing, Speaker
of the House of Representatives in Massachusetts, enclosing Hutch
inson's letters, was dated December 2d, 1772. Six months after
wards, that is, in June, 1773, they were publicly acted upon by the
legislature of Massachusetts, and on the 15th of that month the
resolves occasioned by them were adopted. Now it appears in
the Memoir of Dr. Williamson's life, that he went to the West In
dies in the year 1772, and did not return till the autumn of 1773,
when he was appointed, as an associate with Dr. Ewing, to go to
Great Britain for the purpose of soliciting benefactions for an acad
emy at Newark in Delaware. He repaired to Boston in order to
take passage from that port, and was present at and saw the destruc
tion of the tea, which occurred on the 16th of December, 1773.
He sailed a week afterwards, and arrived in England near the end
of January ; that is, fourteen months after Dr. Franklin had sent
Hutchinson's letters from London.
These facts afford conclusive evidence, that Dr. Williamson could
aot have had any agency in procuring the letters. That a result
apparently so obvious should escape Dr. Hosack, is the less re
markable, perhaps, as he placed entire confidence in the respecta
ble authority from which he derived his intelligence ; and the mis
take, as mentioned above, can be explained only by supposing a
misapprehension or defect of memory on the part of the gentleman.

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 443
by whom it was communicated. It is proper to add, however, that
Mr. John Williarason, brother to Dr. Williamson, had received the
same impression from the latter, as he declared to Dr. Hosack in
conversation. There is a raode of reconciling these discrepances, which at least
has probability on its side. One of the conditions enjoined by Dr.
Franklin, in sending these letters, was, that they should be returned
to London. At tbe time Dr. Williamson sailed from Boston, the
letters had been copied and printed, and there was no longer any
motive for retaining the originals. These may have been intrusted
to Dr. Williamson, with the request, that, on his arrival in London,
he would put them into the hands of Dr. Franklin. His relation
of this circumstance might easily lead to the error of connecting
him wilh the previous transactions.
Mr. John Adams, after reading the first edition of Dr. Hosack's
Memoir, wrote a letter to him, dated January 28th, 1820, which
contains some interesting facts touching this subject.
" I was one of the first persons," says Mr. Adams, " to whom
Mr. Cushing communicated the great bundle of letters of Hutchin
son and Oliver, which had been transmitted to him, as Speaker of
the Hf-ifee of Representatives, by Dr. Franklin, their agent in Lon
don, x- was perraitted to carry them with me upon a circuit of our
Judicial Court, and to communicate them to the chosen few. They
excited no surprise, excepting at the miracle of their acquisition.
How that could have been performed nobody could conjecture;
none doubted their authenticity, for the handwriting was full proof;
and, besides, all the leading men in opposition to the ministry
had long been fully convinced, that the writers were guilty of suoh
malignant representations, and that those representations had sug
gested to the ministry their nefarious projects. I doubt not the
veracity of Dr. Williamson's account of the agency in procuring
those letters, but I believe he has oraitted one circumstance, to wit,
that he was employed upon that occasion by Mr. Temple, after
wards Sir John Temple, who told me, in Holland, that he had
communicated those letters to Dr. Franklin. ' Though I swear to
you,' said he, 'that I did not procure them in the manner repre
sented.' This I believe, and I believe further, that he did not de
liver them with his own hand into Dr. Franklin's, but employed
a member of Parliament, very possibly Mr. Hartley, for that pur
pose ; for Dr. Franklin declared publicly, that he received them
from a member of Parliament."
fn his narrative Di*. Franklin says, that three persons in England

444 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
besides himself saw the letters, and were acquainted with the cir
cumstances under which they were procured and sent. Mr. Tem
ple was doubtless one of the three ; but the part he acted, and who
were the other two, can only be conjectured.
Governor Hutchinson, in the third volume of his History of
Massachusetts, which remained many years in manuscript, and
was first published in 1828, gives a long account of the proceedings
of the Massachusetts legislature in regard to these letters. " The
manner in which they were obtained," he says (p. 418), " was
never fully discovered. Dr. Franklin asserts, that they were not
in Mr. Whately's possession at the time of his death. Mr. Whate
ly's character will not admit of a supposition, that he suffered to
be put into the possession of another person, letters written in con
fidence of not being communicated. They were, therefore, unfair
ly obtained from Mr. Whately in his lifetime, and unjustly withheld
from his executor after his death. The removal of Dr. Franklin
from office seems to have been occasioned by his public acknowl
edgment, that he laid hands on them, and sent them to his con
stituents ; and that of Mr. Temple, by information given to the
ministry, by a person intrusted with the secret, that he was privy
to the plan of procuring and sending them over. From sfej^ cir
cumstances there were strong grounds to suppose, that t^^ had
been in the possession of anothe person, a member of Parliament,
by whom they had been communicated to Dr. Franklin."
The suggestion in this extract, that the letters were unfairly ob
tained from Mr. Whately during his lifetime, is supported by an
insufficient reason. They might naturally be lent to a friend,
who had not returned them at the time of his death ; and this is
the more probable, as they were evidently intended to be read by
different persons, and to influence public measures, although their
contents were of a nature to require secrecy. In his political sen
timents, also, Mr. Whately was opposed to the existing ministry,
and he might be willing the letters should be seen by others of his
party, many of whom were friendly to the claims of America. In
this way they may have faljfen into the channel, by which they were
conveyed to Dr. Franklin, without any unfairness to Mr. Whately
before his death, whatever may be thought of the disposition that
was made of them subsequently.
After the resolves of the Massachusetts legislature and their
petition to the King arrived in England, the newspapers were
filled with speculations concerning the mysterious manner in which
the letters had found their way across the Atlantic ; for as yet

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 445
nothing had come before the public, which implicated the name
of any person in the transaction. Thomas Whately, to whom the
letters had been written, died in June, 1772, and his papers passed
into the hands of his brother, William Whately. It was reason
able to presume, that the original letters were among those papers,
and could not have been withdrawn without his knowledge. Hence
suspicions went abroad to his disadvantage. Mr. Temple was like
wise involved in the affair at the same time. The grounds of the
suspicions against him are explained in the following extract from
a paper, published by Mr. William Whately, December 9th, 1773.
" Some time about the month of October, in the last year, Mr.
Temple applied to rae, and informed me, that he wanted particu
larly to see a paper relating to the colonies he had formerly trans
mitted to my brother, with a letter from himself accompanying it,
and that he believed some of the letters of Governor Hutchinson,
Mr. Oliver, and others of my brother's friends in America, might
probably afford some light into the object of his inquiry. Unknown
almost as Mr. Temple was personally to me, I deemed the friend
ship my brother had constantly shown him, entitled him to every
assistanc" i(.in my power for the purpose desired, and I therefore
made ni ''iruple to place that confidence in him, as to lay before
him, anoSiccasionally during his visit to leave with him, several
parcels of letters from my late brother's correspondents in Amer
ica, in the exact state in which they had come into my posses
sion ; some regularly sorted, and some promiscuously tied together ;
and some of them were from Mr. Temple himself, and his brother,
and frora Governor Hutchinson, Mr. Oliver, and others ; and, dur
ing the intervals that I was in the room with Mr. Temple, we did
together cast our eyes on one or two letters of Governor Hutch
inson, and I beUeve one or two other correspondents of my late
brother. In July last I received inforraation from Mr. Oliver of
Boston, that several letters to my late brother had been laid before
the Assembly of the province ; upon which I waited upon Mr.
Temple, and told him I thought myself entitled to call upon him
to join his name with mine in asserting the integrity and honor of
both of us ; that he, and he only, had ever had access to any of
the letters of my brother's correspondents in America, and that I
was called upon to account for the appearance of the letters in
question. Mr. Temple assured me, in terms the most precise,
that (except some letters from himself and his brother, which he
had from me by my perraission) he had not taken a single letter,
or an extract from any, I had coramunicated to him. I saw him
VOL. IV. LL

446 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
twice afterwards on the same subject, and the same assurances
were invariably repealed by him, and confirmed by him in the most
solemn manner.
" The facts, as above stated, with respect to Mr. Temple's pervi-
sal of my brother's letters, I have related freely to whoever ap
plied to me for information, and given everybody authority to quote
me on the occasion ; and I have as freely repeated the assertions
and assurances Mr. Temple has constantly given me with respect
to himself; and there the matter at present rests."
It hence appears, that Mr. Whately was suspected, because the
letters were supposed to have been in his possession ; and Mr.
Temple, because, when he examined the papers as here described,
he might have withdrawn them. Anonymous assertions were pub
lished injurious to Mr. Temple, the falsehood of which could only
be known to Mr. Whately, and which Mr. Temple thought Mr.
Whately was bound to contradict. This not being done, the par
ties grew warm, and a duel ensued, in which Mr. Whately was
wounded. Dr. Franklin was severely censured for not interposing
to prevent this duel, by making known the facts. The following
statement, published soon afterwards in the PubUc Adv % Hser, will
show the censure to have been unjust. \ M
"On the Sth of December a letter, under the signatui3 of Ante-
nor, accused Mr. Temple of dishonorably taking the letters in
question from Mr. Whately, whose name was vouched for the truth
of the charge. The next day Mr. Temple's accuser appeared,
declaring Mr. Whately's concurrence with him in denying the facts
on which the charge was founded. So far was there from being, in
this stage of the business, an appearance of any quarrel likely to hap
pen between these two gentleraen, it seemed as if they were united
in contradicting a malignant, anonymous accusation. But, on the
llth, Mr. Whately contradicted Mr. Temple, and at four o'clock
that day the duel was fought. What time or opportunity was there
here for the intervention of Dr. Franklin, especially as Mr. Tem
ple's challenge was grounded on the other's flatly denying what he
had given to the public under his hand ? The original cause too
of the dispute was, Mr. Whately's having given rise to and coun
tenanced a most false, unjust, and cruel accusation against Mr.
Teraple." Mr. Vaughan, who wrote in London five years after the event,
says, that, when the duel occurred, " Dr. Franklin was not in
town; itwas after some interval tbat he received the intelligence.
What had passed he could not foresee ; he endeavoured to prevent

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 447
what still might follow." Finding that the quarrel continued, and
that there was a prospect of another duel, when Mr. Whately should
recover fiom his wound. Dr. Franklin published the paper, in which
he declared the letters had never been in the possession of Mr.
Whately, and that "he alone was the person, who obtained and
transmitted them to Boston."
All the acrimony hitherto vented against Whately and Temple
was now turned upon Dr. Franklin, increased by the most virulent
abuse from the retainers of the ministry. A plan was immediately
forraed to overwhelm him whh disgrace, and make him feel the
full weight of ministerial indignation. The Massachusetts petition
for the removal of the governor and lieutenant-governor was soon
to be brought to a hearing before the Lords Coraraittee of his Maj
esty's Privy Council. The scheme was, to raake this an occasion
for a personal attack on Dr. Franklin ; and the talents and sarcas
tic powers of Wedderburn, the King's solicitor-general, (afterwards
Lord Loughborough), were to be put in requisition for so worthy
a task. To prepare the way, Mr. Israel Mauduit, the friend of
Governor Hutchinson, petitioned, that he might be heard by coun
sel in beha'f of the governor and lieutenant-governor, before their
Lordshipr sshould make any report. The petition was granted, and
Mr. 'Wedderburn was the counsel.
" Examination of Dr. Franklin at the Council-Chamber, Janu
ary llth, 1774. Present, Lord President, the Secretaries
of State, and many other Lords.
" Dr. Franklin's Letter and the Address, Mr. Pownall's Letter,
and Mr. Mauduit's Petition were read.
" Mr. Wedderburn. The Address mentions certain papers ; 1
could wish to be informed what are those papers.
" Dr. Franklin. They are the letters of Mr. Hutchinson and
Mr. Oliver.
" Court. Have you brought them 1
" Dr. Franklin. No ; but here are attested copies.
" Court. Do you mean to found a charge upon them? If you
do, you must produce the letters.
"Dr. Franklin. These copies are attested by several gentle
men at Boston, and a notary public.
" Mr. Weaderburn. My Lords, we shall not take advantage of
any imperfection in the proof. We admit that the letters are Mr.
Hutchinson's and Mr. Oliver's handwriting ; reservinor to ourselves
the right of inquiring how they were obtained.

448 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
" Dr. Franklin. I did not expect that counsel would have
been employed on this occasion.
" Court. Had you not notice sent you of Mr; Mauduit's having
petitioned to be heard by counsel, on behalf of the governor and
lieutenant-governor 1
" Dr. Franklin. I did receive such notice ; but I thought this
had been a matter of politics, not of law, and have not brought
my counsel.
" Court. Where a charge is brought, the parties have a right to
be heard by counsel or not, as they choose.
" Mr. Mauduit. My Lords, I am not a native of that country,
as these gentlemen are. I know well Dr. Franklin's abilities, and
wish to put the defence of my friends upon a parity with the at
tack ; he will not therefore wonder that I choose to appear before
your Lordships with the assistance of counsel. My friends, in their
letters to me, have desired, (if any proceedings, as they say, should
be had upon this Address) that they may have a hearing in their
own justification, that their innocence may be fully cleared, and
their honor vindicated ; and have raade provision accordingly.
I do not think myself at liberty, therefore, to give up the-;assistance
of my counsel, in defending them against this unjust ac )isation.
" Court. Dr. Franklin may have the assistance of counse." , or
go on without it, as he shall choose.
" Dr. Franklin. I desire to have counsel.
" Court. What time do you want ?
" Dr. Franklin. Three weeks.
" Ordered, that the further proceedings be on Saturday, 29th
instant." Accordingly the Privy Council met on the day appointed, Mr.
Wedderburn having prepared himself for the part he was to act,
and Mr. Dunning and Mr. John Lee (two eminent barristers) ap
pearing as counsel for the Assembly of Massachusetts. Thirty-five
Lords attended ; a larger number, as Governor Hutchinson tells
us, than had been known on any former occasion. They had
been apprized of the course intended to be pursued by Mr. Wed
derburn, and they expected both to be entertained by the orator,
and gratified at the humiliation of the great champion of American
liberty. The case was opened by Mr. Dunning and Mr. Lee, who
substantiated the complaints of Massachusetts by producing the
letters, and arguing from them, that the governor and lieutenant-
governor were unworthy of the confidence of the government, as
well as of the people of Massachusetts.

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 449
In his reply, Mr. Wedderburn said little on the merits of the
case, but, after eulogizing the loyalty and services of his clients,
and speaking in very opprobrious terms of the Assembly and inhab
itants of the province, in which they had rendered themselves so
unpopular, he poured out the torrent of his invective upon Dr.
Franklin, descending to personalities and abuse as far beneath the
character of a gentleman, as they were insulting to the dignity of
the place in which he stood. Portions only of the speech were
reported, and published by Mr. Mauduit. Other parts were too
coarse even for the friends of Mr. Wedderburn to desire to see them
in print. A specimen of the suppressed passages was obtained,
however, and first appeared in Mr. Vaughan's edition of Frank
lin's writings. It is as follows.
" The letters could not have come to Dr. Franklin," said Mr.
Wedderburn, " by fair means. The writers did not give .them to
him ; nor yet did the deceased correspondent, who from our inti
macy would otherwise have told me of it. Nothing, then, will
acquit Dr. Franklin of the charge of obtaining them by fraudulent
or corrupt means, for the most malignant of purposes ; unless he
stole them ftom the person who stole them. This argument is
irrefragable. " I hope, my Lords, you will mark and brand thc man, for the
honor of this country, of Europe, and of mankind. Private cor
respondence has hitherto been held sacred, in tiraes of the greatest
party rage, not only in politics but religion." " He has forfeited
all the respect of societies and of men. Into what companies will
he hereafter go with an unembarrassed face, or the honest intre
pidity of virtue t Men will watch him with a jealous eye ; they
will hide their papers from him, and lock up their escrutoires.
He will henceforth esteem it a libel to be called a man of letters ;
homo TRIUM* literarum I
" But he not only took away the letters from one brother ; but
kept himself concealed till he nearly occasioned the murder of the
other. It is impossible to read his account, expressive of the
coolest and most deliberate malice, without horror." [Here he
read the letter dated Decemher 25th, 1773; Dr. Franklin being
all the time present.] " Amidst these tragical events, of one per
son nearly murdered, of another answerable for the issue, of a wor
thy governor hurt in his dearest interests, the fate of America in
suspense ; here is a man, who, with the utmost insensibility of
* That is, FURi 6r thief.
VOL. IV. 57 LL*

450 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
remorse, stands up and avows himself the author of all. I can
compare it only to Zanga, in Dr. Young's Revenge.*
' Know then 't was — I ;
I forged the letter, I disposed the picture ;
I hated, I despised, and I destroy.'
I ask, my Lords, whether the revengeful temper attributed, by
poetic fiction only, to the bloody African, is not surpassed by the
coolness and apathy of the wily American 1 "
Mr. Vaughan adds ; " Unfortunately for Mr. Wedderburn, the
events of the war did not correspond with his systems. Unfortu
nately too for his ' irrefragable argument,' Dr. Franklin afterwards
took an oath in chancery, that, at the time that he transmitted the
letters, he was ignorant of the party to whom they had been ad
dressed ; having himself received them from a third person, and
for the express purpose of their being conveyed to America. Un
fortunately also for Mr. Wedderburn's ' worthy governor,' that gov
ernor himself, before the arrival of Dr. Franklin's packet in Boston,
sent over one of Dr. Franklin's own ' private ' letters to England ;
expressing some little coyness indeed upon the occasion, but desii;-
ing secrecy, lest he should be prevented from procuring more useful
intelligence from the same source. Whether Mr. Wedderburn,
in his speech, intended to draw a particular case and portraiture,
for the purpose only of injuring Dr. Franklin, or meant that his
language and epithets should apply generally to all, whether friends
or foes, whose practice should be found similar to it, is a matter
that must be left to be adjusted between Governor Hutchinson and
Mr. Wedderburn.t
* Act V.
f In a letter from Governor Hutchinson to Lord Dartmouth, dated
Boston, October 19th, 1773, he wrote as follows ; " After I had sealed my
letters, which I intended by this ship, a gentleman furnished me with
the copy of a letter to the Speaker of the House from their agent [Dr.
Franklin] in England. It has been shown to several members of the
House, and to other persons, and therefore is no secret. I felt some
reluctance at communicating it in a private way ; but, upon consideration,
it appears to me of such importance that your Lordship should be ac
quainted with it, that I doubted whether I should be faithful to my trust,
if I did not lay it before you. If it should be known to have come from
me, or perhaps to have been sent from England, it may be tlie means
of preventing any further useful intelligence, which I may otherwise
obtain from the same person."
By this it seems, that Governor Hutchinson was doing the very act,
for which at the same time he and his supporters were bestowing so

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 451
" It was not singular, perhaps, that, as a man of honor, Dr.
Franklin should surrender his name to public scrutiny in order
to prevent mischief to others, and yet not betray his coadjutor (even
to the present moraent) to relieve his own farae from the severest
obloquy ; but perhaps it belonged to few besides Dr. Franklin, to
possess mildness and magnanimity enough, to refrain from intem
perate expressions and measures against Mr. Wedderburn and his
supporters, after all that had passed."
Dr. Priestley was present and heard Mr. Wedderburn's speech,
of which he gave the following account in a communication to the
editor of the Monthly Magazine, dated at Northumberland, Novem
ber 10th, IS02.
" On the morning of the day on which the cause was to be
heard, I raet Mr. Burke in Parliaraent Street, accompanied by Dr.
Douglas, afterwards Bishop of Carlisle; and after introducing us
to each other, as men of letters, he asked rae whither I was going ;
I said, I could tell him whither I wished to go. He then asked
me where that was ; I said, to the Privy Council, but that I was
afraid I could not get admission. He then desired me to go along
with him. Accordingly I did ; but, when we got to the ante-room,
we found it quite filled with persons as desirous of getting admis
sion as ourselves. Seeing this, I said, we should never get through
the crowd. He said, ' Give me your arm,' and, locking it fast in
his, he soon made his way to the door of the Privy Council. I
then said, ' Mr. Burke, you are an excellent leader ; ' he replied,
' I wish other persons thought so too.'
"After waiting a short tirae, the door of the Privy Council
opened, and we entered the first ; when Mr. Burke took his stand
behind the first chair next to the President, and I behind that next
to his. When the business was opened, it was sufficiently evident,
from the speech of Mr. Wedderburn, who was counsel for the gov
ernor, that the real object of the court was to insult Dr. Franklin.

much obloquy upon Dr. Franklin ; and for the same reason, namely, its
unportance to the pubhc uiterests. There was tliis difference, however.
between the two cases. Governor Hutchinson requested that his name
might not be used in connexion with the affair, whereas Franklin nei
ther imposed nor suggested any such condition in regard to himself. It
is not meant to be msmuated by these remarlcs, that Governor Hutch
inson did wrong, for he says fidelity to his trust was his motive ; but it
shows, m a pointed manner, how unjust wer& the persecutions against
Dr. Pranklin for doing the same thing, under the same sense of duty,
— Editor.

452 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
All this time, he stood in a corner of the room, not far from rae,
without the least apparent emotion.
" Mr. Dunning, who was the leading coun.sel on the part of the
colony, was so hoarse that he could hardly make himself heard ;
and Mr. Lee, who was the second, spoke but feebly in reply ; so
that Mr. Wedderburn had a complete triumph. At the sallies of
his sarcastic wit, all the members of the Council, the president him
self (Lord Gower) not excepted, frequently laughed outright. No
person belonging to the Council behaved with decent gravity, ex
cept Lord North, who, coming late, took his stand behind the
chair opposite to me.*
" When the business was over. Dr. Franklin, in going out, took
me by the hand in a manner that indicated some feeling. I soon
followed him, and, going through the ante-room, saw Mr. Wedder
burn there, surrounded by a circle of his friends and admirers.
Being known to him, he stepped forward, as if to speak to rae ;
but I turned aside, and made what haste I could out of the place.
" The next morning, I breakfasted with the Doctor, when he
said, ' He had never before been so sensible of the power of a good
conscience ; for that, if he had not considered the thing for which
he had been so much insulted, as one of the best actions of his
life, and what he should certainly do again in the same circum
stances, he could not have supported it.' He was accused of clan
destinely procuring certain letters, containing complaints against
the governor ,f and sending them to America, with a view to excite
their animosity against him, and thus to embroil the two countries ;
but he assured me, that he did not even know that such letters
existed, until they were brought to hira as agent for the colony, in
order to be sent to his constituents ; and the cover of the letters,
on which the direction had been written, being lost, he only guessed
at the person to whom they were addressed by the contents.
" That Dr. Franklin, notwithstanding he did not show it at the
* Arthur Lee, who was in London at the time, says ; « Wedderburn was
eloquent and artful ; insomuch that, notwithstanding the great decency
and decorum that distinguish their Lordships, he made them so far forget
themselves and the character in which they officiated, as to cry out,
'Hear him, hear him.'" "Dr. Franklin bore it all with a firmness and
equanimity, which conscious integrity can inspire. The insult was of
fered to the people through their agent." — lAfe of Arthur iee, Vol. I.
pp.240, 273. — Editor.
t An error of memory as to the contents of the letters. — Editor.

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 453
time, was much impressed by the business of the Privy Council,
appeared from this circumstance. When he attended there, he was
aressed in a suit of Manchester velvet ; and Silas Deane told me,
that, when they met at Paris to sign the treaty between France
and America, he purposely put on that suit."
In reference to this account, after it appeared in print, the fol
lowing particulars were comraunicated to William Temple Frank
lin by Dr. Bancroft, who was for many years one of Dr. Franklin's
intimate friends, and was present during the whole transaction be
fore the Privy Council.
" Dr. Franklin did not ' stand in a corner of the room,' " says
Dr. Bancroft ; " he stood close to the fireplace, on that side which
was at the right hand of those, who were looking toward the fire ;
in the front of which, though at some distance, the members of
the Privy Council were 'seated at a table. I obtained a place on
the opposite side of the fireplace, a little further from the fire ; but
Dr. Franklin's face was directed towards me, and I had a full,
uninterrupted view of it, and his person, during the whole time in
which Mr. Wedderburn spoke. The Doctor was dressed in a full
dress suit of spotted Manchester velvet, and stood conspicuously
erect, without the smallest movement of any part of his body. The
muscles of his face had been previously composed, so as to afford
a p];-eiir^ ag^'' expression of countenance, and he did not suffer
flnissed ti^^^j^ , -.ration of it to appear during the continuance of

the "'4j*i]po J which he was so harshly and improperly treated.
In sho. i'i ¦ .o quote the words which he employed concerning him
self on another occasion, he kept his ' countenance as immovable
as if his features had been made of wood.' This was late on Sat
urday afternoon. I called on him in Craven Street, at an early
hour on Monday morning, and, imraediately after the usual saluta
tion, he put into my hands a letter, which had just been delivered
to him. It was from the postmaster-general, and informed him,
that the King had no further occasion for his (Dr. Franklin's) ser
vices, as deputy postmaster-general in America.
" It is a fact, that he, as Dr. Priestley mentions, signed the
treaties of commerce and eventual alliance with France, in the
clothes which he had worn at the Cockpit, when the preceding
transaction occurred. It had been intended, as you may recollect,
that these treaties should be signed on the evening of Thursday,
the 5th of February ; and when Dr. Franklin had dressed himself
for the day, I observed that he wore the suit in question ; which
I thought the more extraordinary, as it had been laid aside for

464 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
many months. This I noticed to Mr. Deane ; and soon after,
when a messenger came from Versailles, with a letter from Mr.
Gerard the French plenipotentiary, stating that he was so unwell,
from a cold, that he wished to defer coming to Paris to sign the
treaties, until the next evening, I said to Mr. Deane, ' Let us see
whether the Doctor will wear the same suit of clothes to-morrow ;
if he does, I shall suspect that he is influenced by a recollection
of the treatment which he received at the Cockpit.' The morrow
came, and the same clothes were again worn, and the treaties
signed. After which, these clothes were laid aside, and, so far as
my knowledge extends, never worn afterwards. I once intimated
to Dr. Franklin the suspicion, which his wearing these clothes on
that occasion had excited in my mind, when he smiled, without
telling me whether it was well or ill founded. I have heard him
sometimes say, that he was not insensible* to injuries, but that he
never put himself to any trouble or inconvenience to retaliate."
The affair having been gone through with by the Privy Council,
in the manner above stated, it is easy to imagine what was the
fate of the Assembly's petition. In their report, after the usual
matters of form, and an enumeration of the several charges, the
Committee proceed as follows.
" The Lords of the Committee cannot but express their astonish
ment, that a charge of so serious and extensive a naturtl"' ^ayist
the persons, whom the said House of Representatives ackii ^S^ ^^^
by their said petition to have heretofore had the confidef ^ and
esteem of the people, and to have been advanced by your Majesty,
from the purest motives of rendering your subjects happy, to the
highest places of trust and authority in that province, should have
no other evidence to support it but inflammatory and precipitate
resolutions, founded only on certain letters, written respectively by
them (and all but one before they were appointed to the posts they
now hold) in the years 1767, 1768, and 1769, to a gentleman then
in no office under the government, in the course of familiar cor
respondence, and in the confidence of private friendship, and which
it was said (and it was not denied by Mr. Franklin) were surrep
titiously obtained after his death, and sent over to America, and
laid before the Assembly of the Massachusetts Bay ; and which
letters appear to us to contain nothing reprehensible or unworthy
of the situation they were in; and we presume, that it was from
this impropriety, that the Council did disclaim on behalf of the
Assembly any intention of bringing a crimini charge against the
governor and lieutenant-governor ; but said, that the petition was

HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 455
founded solely on the ground of the governor and lieutenant-
governor being, as they alleged, now become obnoxious to the
people of the province ; and that it was in this light only that
the said petition was presented to your Majesty. And there be
ing no other, evidence now produced, than the said resolutions
and letters, together with resolutions of a similar import by the
Council of the said province, founded, as it was said, on the sarae
letters ;
" The Lords of the Committee do agree humbly to report, as
their opinion, to your Majesty, that the said petition is founded upon
resolutions formed upon false and erroneous allegations ; and that
the sarae is groundless, vexatious, and scandalous ; and calculated
only for the seditious purposes of keeping up a spirit of clamor and
discontent in the said province. And the Lords of the Committee
do further humbly report, to your Majesty, that nothing has been laid
before them which does or can, in their opinion, in any manner,
or in any degree, impeach the honor, integrity, or conduct of
the said governor or lieutenant-governor ; and their Lordships are
humbly of opinion, that the said petition ought to be dismissed."
" February tth. His Majesty, taking the said report into consid
eration, was pleased, with the advice of his Privy Council, to ap
prove thereof ; and to order, that the said petition of the House
of Representatives of the Province of Massachusetts Bay be dis
missed the Board, ' as groundless, vexatious, and scandalous ; and
calculated only for the seditious purpose of keeping up a spirit of
clamor and discontent in the said province.' "
Such was the language in which the King and his counsellors
thought proper to reply to the respectful petition of the Represen
tatives of a whole province. Who can wonder at the indignation
of the people, or that the battle of Bunker's Hill was fought in less
than eighteen months afterwards ? Dr. Franklin was imraediately
dismissed from his office of deputy postmaster-general for the colo
nies, The whole proceeding was not raore insulting and oppres
sive, than it was impolitic.

EMBLEMATICAL REPRESENTATION.

W, T. Franklin gives the following account of this device, and
the use made of it by its author. " During the disputes between
the two countries, Dr. Franklin invented a little emblematical de
sign, intended to represent the supposed state of Great Britain
and her colonies, should the former persist in her oppressive meas
ures, restraining the latter's trade, and taxing their people by laws
made by a legislature in which they were not represented. It was
engraved on a copper plate. Dr. Franklin had many of them
struck off on cards, on the back of which he occasionally wrote
his notes. It was also printed on a half-sheet of paper, with the
explanation and moral." — Editor.

EXPLANATION.
Great Britain is supposed to have been placed
upon the globe ; but the colonies, (that is, her Umbs,)
being severed from her, she is seen Ufting her eyes
and mangled stumps to Heaven ; h'isr shield, vs^hich she
is unable to wield, Ues useless by her side ; her lance
has pierced New England ; the laurel branch has fallen
from the hand of Pennsylvania; the English oak has
lost its head, and stands a bare trunk, with a few with
ered branches ; briers and thoms are on the ground
beneath it; the British ships have brooms at their
topmast heads, denoting their bemg on sale; and
Britannia herself is seen sliding off the world (no
longer able to hold its balance), her fragments over
spread with the label, Date obolum Belisario.

Vol. Wp, 466.

EMBLEMATICAL REPRESENTATIONS. 457
THE MORAL.
History alfords us many instances of the rum of
states, by the prosecution of measures iU suited to the
temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of
laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice
and oppression of another, is certainly the most erro
neous and mistaken poUcy. An equal dispensation of
protection, rights, privUeges, and advantages, is what
every part is entided to, and ought to enjoy ; it bemg
a matter of no moment to the state, whether a subject
grows rich and flourishing on the Tharaes or the Ohio,
m Edinburgh or Dublin. These measures never faU to
create great and violent jealousies and animosities be
tween the people favored and the people oppressed ;
whence a total separation of affecdons, interests, poUti
cal obUgations, and aU manner of connexions, necessa
rily ensue, by which the whole state is weakened,
and perhaps ruined for ever ! *
* This mode of producing a strong impression, by emblematical de
vices and drawings, was a favorite one with Dr. Franklin, and he prac
tised it on several occasions. Two other instances have already been
mentioned in this work. See Vol. III. pp. 3, 25. — Editor.

vol. IV. 68 3IW

ON
A PROPOSED ACT OF PARLIAMENT
FOR PREVENTING EMIGRATION.

Written and first published in England. The date is uncer
tain. — Editor.

TO THE printer OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER.
Sir,
You give us in your paper of Tuesday, the 16th of
Noveraber, what is called " The Plan of an Act to he
proposed at the next Meeting of Parharaent to prevent
the Eraigradon of our People." I know not from ^ vhat
authority it comes ; but, as it is very circumstanti al, I
suppose some such plan may be really under coi isid-
eration, and that this is thrown out to feel the puis e of
the public. I shaU therefore, with your leave, give my
sentiments of it in your paper.
During a century and a half that EngUshmen 1 lave
been at liberty to remove if they pleased to Ame rica,
we have heard of no law to restrain that Uberty, |nd
confine them as prisoners hi this Island. Nor doiwe
perceive any iU effects produced by their emigration.
Our estates, far from diminishing m value through a
want of tenants, have been in that period more than
doubled ; the lands in general are better cultivated ;
their increased produce finds a ready sale at an ad
vanced price, and the complaint has for some time
been, not that we want mouths to consume our meat,
but that we want meat for our number of mouths.

EMIGRATION. 459
Why then is such a restraining law now thought
necessary? A paragraph in the same paper from the
Edinburgh Courant may perhaps throw some Ught
upon this question. We are there told, "that one
thousand five hundred people have emigrated to Amer
ica from the shire of Sutherland within these two years,
and carried with them seven thousand five hundred
pounds sterling, which exceeds a year's rent of the
whole county; that the single consideration of the
misery which most of these people must sufl'er in
America, independent of the loss of men and money
to the mother country, should engage the attention,
not only of the landed interest, bui of administra
tion." The humane writer of this paragraph may, I
fancy, console himself with the reflection, that perhaps
the apprehended future sufferings of those emigrants
wiU never exist ; for that it was probably the authen
tic accounts they had received from friends aheady
settled there, of the felicity to be enjoyed in that coun
try, with a thorough knowledge of their own misery
at home, which induced their removal. And, as a
pohtician, he raay be comforted by assuring himself,
that, if they really raeet with greater misery in Amer
ica, their future letters laraenting it, wiU be more cred
ited than the Edinburgh Courant, and effectually, with
out a law, put a stop to the emigration. It seems some
of the Scottish chiefs, who deUght no longer to Uve
upon their estates in the honorable independence they
were bom to, among their respecting tenants, but
choose rather a life of luxury, though among the de
pendents of a court, have lately raised their rents most
grievously, to support the expense. The consuming ol
those rents in London, though equally prejudicial to
the poor county of Sutherland, no Edinburgh news
paper complam's of; but now, that the oppressed ten-

460 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
ants take flight, and carry with them what might have
supported the landlord's London magnificence, he be
gins to feel for the mother country, and its enor
mous loss of seven thousand five hundred pounds
carried to her colonies ! Adrainistration is called upon
to reraedy the evil, by another abridgment of English
LIBERTY. And surely administration should do some
thing for these gentry, as they do any thing for ad
ministration. But is there not an easier remedy 1 Let them re
turn to their famUy seats, live among their people, and,
instead of fleecing and skinning, patronize and cherish
them ; promote their interest, encourage their industry,
and make their shuation corafortable. If the poor folks
are happier at home than they can be abroad, they wUl
not Ughtly be prevaUed with to cross the ocean. But
can their lord blarae thera for leavhig home in search
of better Uving, when he first set them the example?
I would consider the proposed law,
1st. As to the NECESSITY of it.
2dly. The practicability.
Sdly. The policy, if practicable.
And, 4thly. The justice of it.
Pray spare rae room for a few words on each of
these heads. 1st. As to the Necessity of it.
If any country has more people than can be com
fortably subsisted in it, sorae of those who are incom
moded may be induced to emigrate. As long as the
new situation shaU be far preferable to the old, the
emigration may possibly continue. But when many
of those, who at horae interfered with others of the
sarae rank (in the corapetition for farms, shops, busi
ness, offices, and other means of subsistence), are grad
ually withdrawn, the inconvenience of that competition

EMIGRATION. 461
the nuHiber remaining no longer half starve
each other ; they find they can now subsist comforta
bly, and though perhaps not quite so weU as those who
have left them, yet, the inbred attachment to a native
country is sufficient to overbalance a moderate differ
ence ; and thus the emigration ceases naturally. The
waters of the ocean may move in currents from one
quarter of the globe to another, as they happen in some
places to be accumulated, and in others diminished;
but no law, beyond the law of gravity, is necessary to
prevent then- abandoning any coast entirely. Thus the
different degrees of happiness of different countries and
situations find, or rather make, their level by the flow
ing of people from one to another ; and where that level
is once found, the removals cease. Add to this, that
even a real deficiency of people in any country, occa
sioned by a wasting war or pestUence, is speedily sup
plied by earUer and more proUfic marriages, encour
aged by the greater facility of obtaining the raeans of
subsistence. So that a country half depopulated would
soon be repeopled, tUl the means of subsistence were
equalled by the population. AU increase beyond that
point must perish, or flow off into more favorable situ
ations. Such overflowings there have been of man
kind in aU ages, or we should not now have had so
many nations. But to apprehend absolute depopu
lation from that cause, and caU for a law to prevent
it, is calUng for a law to stop the Thames, lest its
waters, by what leave it daUy at Gravesend, should be
quite exhausted. Such a law, therefore, I do not con
ceive to be necessary.
2dly. As to the Practicability.
When I consider the attempts of this kind that have
been made, first in the time of Archbishop Laud, by
MM*

462 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
orders of Council, to stop the Puritans, who were flying
from his persecutions into New England, and next by
Louis the Fourteenth, to retain in his kingdom the perse
cuted Huguenots ; and how ineffectual aU the power of
our crown, with which the Archbishop armed himself, and
aU the raore absolute power of that great French mon
arch, were, to obtain the end for which they were ex
erted ; and when I consider, too, the extent of coast
to be guarded, and the multitude of cruisers necessary
effectually to raake a prison of the Island for this con
finement of free EngUshmen, who naturally love Uberty,
and would probably by the very restraint be more
stimulated to break through it; I cannot but think
such a law impracticable. The offices would not
be appUed to for Ucenses, the ports would not be used
for embarkation. And yet the people disposed to leave
us would, as the Puritans did, get away by shipfuls.
Sdly. As to the Policy of the Law.
Since I have shown there is no danger of depopu-
latmg Britain, but that the place of those that depart
wiU soon be fiUed up equal to the means of obtaining
a Uvelihood, let us see whether there are not some
general advantages to be expected from the present
emigration. The new settlers in America, findmg plen
ty of subsistence, and land easUy acquired whereon
to seat their chUdren, seldom postpone marriage through
fear of poverty. Their natural increase is therefore in
proportion far beyond what it would have been, if they
had reraained here. New farms are daily everywhere
forming in those iraraense forests ; new towns and vU
lages rising ; hence a growing demand for our mer
chandise, to the greater employment of our manufac
turers, and the enriching of our merchants. By this

EMIGRATION. 463
natural increase of people, the strength of the empu"e
is increased; men are multiplied, out of whom new
armies may be formed on occasion, or the old recruit
ed. The long-extended seacoast, too, of that vast
country, the great maritime commerce of its ports with
each other, its many navigable rivers and lakes, and its
plentiful fisheries, breed multitudes of seamen, besides
those created and supported by its voyages to Eu
rope ; a thriving nursery this, for the manning of our
fleets in tirae of war, and maintaining our importance
among foreign nations by that navy, which is also our
best security against invasions from our enemies. An
extension of empire by conquest of inhabited countries
is not so easUy obtained, it is not so easUy secured ;
it alarms more the neighbouring states ; it is more sub
ject to revolts, and more apt to occasion new . wars.
The increase of dominion by colonies proceedmg
from yourselves, and by the natural growth of your
own people, cannot be complained of by your neigh
bours as an injury ; none have a right to be offended
with it. Your new possessions are therefore more se
cure, they are more cheaply gained, they are attached
to your nation by natural alUance and affection; and
thus they afford an additional strength more certainly
to be depended on, than any that can be acquired by
a conquering power, though at an immense expense
of blood and treasure. These, methinks, are national
advantages, that more than equiponderate with the in
conveniences suffered by a few Scotch or Irish land
lords, who perhaps may find it necessary to abate a
little of their present luxury, or of those advanced rents
they now so unfeeUngly demand. From these consid
erations, I think I may conclude, that the restraining
law proposed would, if practicable, be impolitic.

464 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
4thly. As to the Justice of it.
I apprehend that every Briton, who is made unhap
py at home, has a right to remove from any part of his
King's dorainions into those of any other prince, where
he can be happier. If this should be denied me, at
least it wUl be aUowed, that he has a right to remove
into any other part of the sarae dorainions. For by
this right so many Scotchmeli reraove into England,
easing their own country of its supemuraeraries, and
benefiting ours by their industry. And this is the case
with those who go to America. WiU not these Scottish
lairds be satisfied unless a law passes to pin down aU
tenants to the estate they are born on, (adscripti gleba,)
to be bought and sold with it ? God has given to the
beasts of the forest, and to the birds of the air, a
right, when their subsistence faUs in one country, to
migrate to another, where they can get a more com
fortable Uving ; and shaU man be denied a privUege
enjoyed by brutes, merely to gratify a few avaricious
landlords ? Must raisery be made permanent, and suf
fered by many for the emolument of one; whUe the
increase of human beings is prevented, and thousands
of their offspring stifled, as it were, in the birth, that
this petty Pharaoh may enjoy an excess of opulence ?
God comraands to increase and replenish the earth;
the proposed law would forbid increasing, and confine
Britons to their present number, keeping half that
number too in wretchedness. The common people of
Britain and of Ireland contributed by the taxes they
paid, and by the blood they lost, to the success of
that war, which brought into our hands the vast unpeo
pled territories of North America; a country favored
by Heaven with all the advantages of cUmate and soU.
Germans are now pouring into it, to take possession of
it, and fill it with their posterity ; and shaU Britons and

EMIGRATION. 465
Irelanders, who have a much better right to it, be
forbidden a share of it, and, instead of enjoying there
the plenty and happiness that might reward their in
dustry, be compeUed to remain here in poverty and
misery? Considerations such as these persuade me,
that the proposed law would be both unjust and
INHUMAN. If then it is unnecessary, impracticable, impolitic, and
unjust, I hope our ParUament wiU never receive the
bUl, but leave landlords to their own remedy, an abate
ment of rents, and frugaUty of Uving; and leave the
Uberties of Britons and Irishmen at least as extensive as
it found them. I am, Sh", yours, &:-c.
A Friend to the Poor.

vol. IV. 59

A
TRUE STATE OF THE PROCEEDINGS
IK THE
PARLIAMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN,
AND m THE
PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY,
RELATIVE TO THE GIVING AND GRANTING THE MONEY OF THE
people of THAT PROVINCE, AND ALL AMERICA, IN THE HOUSE
OP COMMONS, IN WHICH THEY ARE NOT REPRESENTED.

First published in London anonymously, in the year 1774. Re
printed with Franklin's name, as the author, in Almon's Prior Docu
ments, in the year 1777 ; but was chiefly drawn up by Arthur Lee
from materials furnished by Dr. Franklin. — Editor.

On the 12th of November, 1761, Govemor Bemard
made the following speech to both Houses of Assem
bly, in the province of Massachusetts Bay.
"At the opening of this General Court, I had the
pleasure to observe upon the happy and propitious
cu'cumstances, that had attended the commencement
of the present reign, and particularly the extinction of
parties, and the general coaUtion of aU parties m sup
port of his Majesty's government ; and I could not
but express my earnest desire, that the same patriotic
spirit, which influenced Great Britain, might prevail

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 467
throughout his Majesty's American provinces, and es
pecially in this most ancient and raost loyal of them.
" I was weU persuaded, that while I was speaking to
you on this subject, your sentiments and mine were
the sarae. I have been fully confirraed in this, as weU
by your own declarations, as by your conduct conse
quent thereto ; and I have now aU the assurance, that
I shaU be assisted and supported by you.
"Fra. Bernard."
On the 24th of April, 1762, his ExceUency made the
following speech to the two Houses.
" The unanimity and despatch, with which you have
complied with the requisitions of his Majesty, require
my particular acknowledgraent ; and it gives me addi
tional pleasure to observe, that you have thereui acted
under no other influence than a due sense of your duty,
both as members of a general empire, and as the body
of a particular province.
"It wiU always be my desire, that freedom and in
dependence should prevaU in your councUs, and that
the whole credit of your proceedings therein should be
placed to your own account. It wiU be a suflScient
honor for me to preside over a people whose motives
to loyalty and public spirit arise from their own breasts.
"Fra. Bernard."
His ExceUency again spoke as foUows to the two
Houses of Assembly, on the 27th of May, 1762.
"Whatever shaU be the event of the war, it must
be no sraaU satisfaction to us, that this province hath
contributed its fuU share to the support of it. Every
thing that has been required of it hath been raost read
ily coraplied with; and the execution of the powers
committed to me, for raising the provincial troops, hath
been as full and complete as the grant of them was.

468 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
Never before were regiraents so easily levied, so weU
composed, and so early in the field, as they have been
this year ; the coraraon people seeraed to be animated
with the spirit of the General Court, and to vie with
them in theu" readiness to serve the King.
" The ample provision, which has been aheady made,
leaves me nothing to ask for the immediate service of
the King. "Fra. Bernard."
The following is a true copy of the message, which
his Majesty sent down to the House of Commons every
year, frora 1769, tUl the conclusion of the war.
" George Rex.
« 26° Die Aprilis, 1759°.
"His Majesty, being sensible of the zeal and vigor
with which his faithful subjects in North America have
exerted themselves in defence of his Majesty's just
rights and possessions, recoraraends it to this House,
to take the same into consideration, and to enable his
Majesty to give them a proper compensation for the
expenses incurred by the respective provinces, in the
levying, clothing, and pay of the troops raised by the
same, according as the active vigor and strenuous ef
forts of the respective provinces shall appear to merit.
"G. R."
Upon which the House resolved, AprU SOth, " That
a sum not exceeding two hundred thousand pounds be
granted to his Majesty upon account, to enable his
Majesty to give a proper compensation to the respec
tive provinces in North America, for the expenses in
curred by them in the levying, clothing, and pay of the
troops raised by the same, according as the active vigor
and strenuous efforts of the respective provinces shaU
be thought by his Majesty to merit."

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 469
SimUar resolutions foUowed yearly every message.
And, though this corapensation did not exceed one
fourth part of what they expended, they were satisfied
with these most honorable of aU testimonies, that they
had not been backward hi contributing their share
towards the general defence of the empire.
His Majesty's Surveyor- General of the Northern Dis
trict in Araerica transmitted to the Lords of the Treas
ury, in 1764, a charge of corruption in his office and
coUusion with smugglers, supported by the oaths of
credible witnesses, against Governor Bemard ; for which
the Surveyor- General received the thanks of the Treas
ury Board, and Governor Bernard was suffered stUl to
hold that oflfice he had abused, and has been admitted
as the principal accuser and witness against the people
of the Massachusetts Bay.
On the 10th of March, 1764, the House of Com
mons resolved, " That it may be proper to charge cer
tain stamp duties in the colonies and plantations " ; but
did not at that tirae form any biU for the purpose.
On the 5th of AprU, 1764, an act passed for irapos
ing duties in Araerica by the British Parharaent, for
the purpose of raising a revenue.
In consequence of these proceedings, the House of
Representatives of the Massachusetts Bay came to reso
lutions, "That the sole right of giving and grantmg
the money of the people of that province, was vested
in thera as their legal representatives ; and that the
imposition of duties and taxes, by the Parliament of
Great Britain, upon a people who are not represented
in the House of Coraraons, is absolutely hreconcUable
with their rights. That no man can justly take the
property of another without his consent; upon which
original principle the right of representation in the same
body which exercises the power of making laws for
VOL. IV. NN

470 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
levying taxes, one of the main piUars of the British
Constitution, is evidently founded. That the extension
of the powers of the Court of Admiralty within this
province, is a most violent infraction of the right of trial
by jury, a right which this House, upon the principles
of their British ancestors, hold most dear and sacred,
it being the only security of the Uves, Uberties, and
property of his Majesty's subjects. That this House
owe the strictest allegiance to his most sacred Majesty
King George the Third, and that they have the greatest
veneration for the ParUament."
In February, 1765, a biU for raising a revenue in
America by duties on stamps, &c., received the royal
assent. Petitions from the several Assemblies of America
against the passing of this act were rejected by the
ParUament, or not received, on the pretence of a rule,
that petitions should not be received against a money
bUl, and this was a money biU.
Upon the arrival of this act in America, every As
sembly on the continent came to resolutions against the
right of imposing taxes upon them unrepresented and
without their consent. The House of Representatives
of the Massachusetts Bay, observing the Uttie attention
paid to separate petitions, resolved, " That it was highly
expedient there should be a raeeting, as soon as might
be, of coraraittees frora the Houses of Representatives
in the several colonies on the American continent, to
consult on the present circumstances, and the difficul
ties to which they were reduced by the operation of the
late acts of Parliament for levying duties on the colonies,
and to consider of a general address to his Majesty
and the ParUament, to implore reUef." Letters were
transraitted accordingly to the Speakers of the other
AsserabUes, and three persons elected to attend a
Congress on the part of this province.

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 471
In the mean time some disturbances arose in the
town of Boston. The representation of these disturb
ances was mflaraed by the strongest coloring in various
letters from Governor Bernard to the Lords of Trade,
though he knew the inhabitants had pubUcly con-
demneid these proceedings, as appears from the follow
ing vote of the town.
" At a legal Meeting of the Freeholders and other
Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, at Fanueil
HaU, August 27th, 1765.
"The town having an utter detestation of the ex
traordinary and violent proceedings of a number of
persons unknown, against some of the inhabitants of
the sarae, the last night, vote unaniraously, that the
selectraen and magistrates of the town be desired to
use their utmost endeavours, agreeable to law, to sup
press the like disorders for the future, and that the
freeholders and other inhabitants wiU do every thing
in their power to assist them therein.
" Voted, That the inhabitants of this town wUl be
ready, on aU occasions, to assist the selectmen and
magistrates in the suppression of aU disorders of a like
nature that may happen, when caUed upon for that
purpose. "Attest, William Cooper, Town Clerk."
In truth, the whole proved to be nothing more than
some injury offered to private property, for which the
Asserably afterwards voted a corapensation.
On the 25th of October, 1765, there being no stamp
papers, the CouncU and House of Representatives, to
avoid the mischievous consequences of a total stop to
all pubUc business, resolved, that it might be lawful to
do business without staraps.
The Congress, consisting of a committee of repre-

472 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
sentatives from several provinces, met at New York the
1st of October, 1765. The motives and views with
which the Congress was caUed, are thus stated by
the House of Representatives of Massachusetts Bay;
" Had the colonies been fuUy heard by the ParUament,
it is possible their decisions, with respect to the late
acts for levying duties and taxes on the colonies, might
have been different. However, the House of Repre
sentatives think it their duty not to cease petitioning,
and have accordingly, this present session, wrote to
the Speakers of the several Houses of Representatives
of the several colonies on the continent, proposing a
meeting at New York, on the first Tuesday of October
next, of committees of the Houses of Representatives
ofthe several colonies, to consult together on their pres
ent circumstances, and the difficulties to which they are
and raust be reduced by the operation of the late acts
of ParUament, and to prepare a united, dutiful, humble,
and loyal representation of their condition to his Maj
esty and his ParUament, imploring reUef. And it is
humbly hoped, that decent and dutiful applications for
the preventing or even altering such acts of Parlia
ment, as they apprehend can be made to appear to
be grievous, wiU not be thought sufficient grounds to
charge us with the want, of the most profound respect
for that august body. In confidence of having free
access to that fountain of national justice, the House
rest assured, that aU necessary reUef wiU be afforded,
and that the liberties and privUeges their constituents
at present enjoy, wiU remain secure.
"Signed, Sam. White, Speaker."
The Congress, summoned upon these principles, met
and acted upon them. They resolved, " That the only
representatives of the people of the colonies are per
sons chosen therein by themselves, and that no taxes

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 473
ever have been, or can be, constitutionally .anposed
upon them, but by their respective legislatures. That,
all suppUes to the crown being free gU"ts of the people,
it is unreasonable and inconsistent with the principles
and spirit of the British constitution, for the people of
Great Britain to grant to his Majesty the property of
the colonists. That it is the indispensable duty of
these colonies to the best of sovereigns, to the mother
country, and themselves, to endeavour, by a loyal and
duttful address to his Majesty, and hurable applications
to both Houses of Parliament, to procure the repeal
of the act for granting and applying certain starap du
ties, of aU clauses of any other act of Parliaraent where
by the jurisdiction of the Admiralty is extended, and
of the other late acts for the restriction of American
commerce." They also drew up a petition to the King, in which
they say, " Our subordinate legislatures are in effect ren
dered useless by the late acts of Parliament, imposing
duties and taxes on these colonies, and extending the
jurisdiction of the Courts of Admiralty beyond its an
cient limits; statutes by which your Majesty's Com
mons in Great Britain undertake absolutely to dispose
of the property of their fellow subjects m America,
without their consent, and for the enforcing whereof
they are subjected to the determination of a single
judge, in a court unrestrained by the wise rules of the
common law, the birthright of EngUshmen, and the
safeguard of their persons and properties.
"The invaluable rights of taxing ourselves, and trial
by our peers, of which we implore your Majesty's pro
tection, are not, we most humbly conceive, unconstitu
tional, but confirmed by the Great Charter of English
Uberty. On the first of these rights, the Honorable the
House of Commons found theu* practice of originatmg
VOL. IV. 60 • NN*

474 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
money biUs ; a right enjoyed by the kingdora of Ireland ;
by the clergy of England, tiU reUnquished by them
selves ; a right, in fine, which aU other your Majesty's
EngUsh subjects, both within and without the reahn,
have hitherto enjoyed." So far were they from any
thought or desire to draw into question, or to deny the
sovereignty of his Majesty in his Parliament, or to arro
gate to themselves the sole right of making laws, that,
m their petition to the House of Commons, they de
clare the reverse in these words;
"We most sincerely recognise our aUegiance to the
crown, and acknowledge aU due subordination to the
Parliament of Great Britain, and shaU always retain the
most grateful sense of their assistance and protection.
We esteem our dependence on, and connexion with
Great Britain, as one of our greatest blessings, and ap
prehend the former wUl appear to be sufficiently secure,
when it is considered, that the inhabitants in the colo
nies have the most unbounded affection for his Majes
ty's person, family, and governraent, as weU as for the
mother country, and that their subordination to the Par
Uament is universally acknowledged."
These petitions, however, were not received, on pre
tence of their being from a body not legally assembled,
and unknown to the constitution.
In January, 1766, the House of Representatives were
obliged to complain of Governor Bernard's having,
together with his CouncU, assumed a legislative power,
in ordering an act of Parliament, or, as he styles it, an
ordinance, to be registered araong the laws of the prov
ince ; which was never done before, but by act of As
sembly.* This just complaint against the usurpation
* But tlie most interesting objection, which is not avowed, and there
fore cannot receive a formal answer, is, " that an American representa
tion will take away all pretences for disputing the ordinances of Parlia
ment" — Governor Bernard's Letters, 1764, p. 59 ; and again, pp. 72, 74.

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 475
of the Governor has been invidiously represented as an
attack upon the authority of ParUament,* whereas in
truth it had no relation to that authority.
In January, 1766, petitions were presented from the
merchants of London, Bristol, and Glasgow, to both
Houses of ParUament, representing the great injury that
would accrue to theh property, and to the commerce
of this kingdom, from the operation of the Starap Act,
and praying for its repeal.
The repeal of it took place accordingly on the 19th
of March foUowing.
The Assembly of Massachusetts Bay, upon the re
peal being known, forraed and transmitted an humble
address of thanks to his Majesty, and letters of the
most grateful acknowledgment to their iUusti-ious pa
trons and friends in either House of ParUament. Soon
after this passed a biU for granting compensation to the
sufferers during the disorders occasioned by the Stamp
Act ; agreeably to his Majesty's recommendation, in
consequence of the address of both Houses of ParUa
ment, his Majesty's pleasure being signified to them by
Mr. Secretary Conway.
The Assembly also conformed themselves to the Mu
tiny Act, though it touched the privUege of granting
freely their own money, for which they had so stren
uously contended. But they compUed, as weU from an
abhorrence of renewmg the late dispute, Avhich had
given thera so much pain, as frora a confidence in his
Majesty's then servants, whom they regarded as friend
ly to theh Uberties and rights.
Their satisfaction in, and gratitude for, the repeal of
the Stamp Act, produced a conduct so studiously void
of offence, that Governor Bernard could not avoid
• See extract of Governor Bernard's Letter, in the Lords' Report^ p. 7

476 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
giving his testimony of it, in his letters to the Earl of
Shelbume, Secretary of State, as follows.
" The House, from the time of opening the session
to this day, has shown a disposition to avoid aU dispute
with me ; every thing having passed wdth as much
good humor as I could desire, except only their contin
uing to act in addressing the King, remonstrating to
the Secretary of State, and employing a separate agent.
It is the importance of this innovation, without any
wUfulness of my own, which induces me to make this
remonstrance, at a time when I have a fah prospect
of having, in aU other business, nothing but good to say
of the proceedmgs of this House.
" They have acted in aU things, even in their remon
strance, with teraper and moderation ; they have avoid
ed some subjects of dispute, and have laid a founda
tion for removing some causes of former altercation.
"I shaU raake such a prudent and proper use of
this letter, as I hope wUl perfectly restore the peace
and tranquiUity of this province, for which purpose con
siderable steps have aheady been raade by the House
of Representatives."
Such was the teraper and moderation with which the
people were disposed to seek rehef from the grievances
they felt. We shaU presently see what steps were art
fully taken to move them from that moderation, and
compel the mob into riots and tumults, which were to
be visited upon the town, and made the pretext for
introducing a raiUtary force.
The new revenue act passed on the 29th of June,
1767 ; a Uttie more than a year after the repeal of the
Stamp Act.
The House of Representatives, in their petition to
the King touching this act, expressly acknowledge the
supreme power of Parharaent. "With great sincerity,

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 477
permit us," say they, "to assure your Majesty, that
your subjects of this province ever have, and stiU con
tinue to acknowledge your Majesty's High Court of
ParUament the supreme legislative power of the whole
emphe." In theh letters to the ministry, they say ; " The sub
jects in this province, and undoubtedly in aU the colo
nies, however they raay have been otherwise repre
sented to his Majesty's rainisters, are loyal ; they are
firmly attached to the mother state ; they always
consider her interest and their own as mseparably
interwoven, and it is their fervent wish, that it may
ever so remain. AU they desire is, to be restored
to the standing upon which they were originally put,
to have the honor and privUege of voluntarily contrib
uting to the aid of their sovereign when required. They
are free subjects ; and it is hoped the nation wiU never
consider thera as in a tributary state." And again ;
" AU they desire is to be placed on their original stand
ing, that they may stiU be happy in the enjoyment of
their invaluable privUeges, and the nation may stiU reap
the advantage of their growth and prosperity."
That their prayers might be more likely to obtain
success from being united with the suppUcations of
aU the colonies, they transmitted a circular letter to the
other AssembUes, informing them, "That the House
had humbly represented to the ministry their own sen-
thnents ; that his Majesty's High Court of ParUament
is the supreme legislative power over the whole empire ;
that in aU free states the constitution is fixed ; and, as
the supreme legislative derives its power and authority
from the consthution, it cannot overleap the bounds of
it, without destroying its own foundation. That the
constitution ascertains and limits both sovereignty and
attegiance ; and, therefore, his Majesty's American sub-

478 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
jects, who acknowledge themselves bound by the ties
of aUegiance, have an equitable claim to the fuU enjoy
ment of the fundamental rules of the EngUsh constitu
tion. That it is an essential unalterable right in nature,
ingrafted into the British constitution as a fundamental
law, and ever held sacred and irrevocable by the sub
jects within the realra, that what a man has honestly
acquired is absolutely his own, which he may freely
give, but which cannot be taken from him without his
consent. That the American subjects may, therefore,
exclusive of any consideration of charter rights, with a
decent firraness adapted to the character of freemen
and subjects, assert this natural, constitutional right."
They add ; " That, as they have too much reason to
beUeve, that the enemies of the colonies have repre
sented them to his Majesty's ministers and the ParUa
ment, as factious, disloyal, and showing a disposition
to make themselves independent of the mother country,
they have taken occasion, in the most humble terms,
to assure his Majesty and his ministers, that, with re
gard to the people of this province, and, as they doubt
not, of aU the colonies, that charge is unjust."
In consequence of this, Govemor Bemard laid be
fore the House, on the 21st of June, 1768, the foUow
ing requisition.
" It gives great concern to his Majesty to find, that
the sarae raoderation which appeared by your letter to
have been adopted at the beginning of the session, in
a fuU Assembly, had not continued ; and that, instead
of that spirit of prudence and respect to the constitu
tion, which seemed at that time to influence the con
duct of a large raajority of the raembers, a thin House
at the end of the session should have presumed to re
vert to, and resolve upon, a measure of so inflammatory
a nature, as that of writing to the other colonies on the

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 479
subject of their intended representation against some
late acts of ParUament. His Majesty considers this
step as evidently tending to create unwarrantable com
binations, to excite an unjustifiable opposition to the
constitutional authority of ParUament, and to revive those
unhappy divisions and distractions, which have operated
so prejudicially to the true interests of Great Britain
and the colonies. It is the King's pleasure, that, so
soon as the General Court is again asserabled, at the
time prescribed by the charter, you should require of
the House of Representatives, in his Majesty's name, to
rescind the resolution which gave birth to the circular
letter from the Speaker, and to declare their disappro
bation of, and dissent to, that rash and hasty proceed
ing. His Majesty has the fuUest reUance upon the
affection of his good subjects in the Massachusetts
Bay, and has observed with satisfaction that spirit of
decency, and love of order, which has discovered itself
in the conduct of the most considerable of its inhabit
ants. If the new Assembly should refuse to comply
with his Majesty's reasonable expectation, it is the
King's pleasure, that you should immediately dissolve
them.
"Hillsborough.
"Whitehall, AprU22d, 1768."
This letter produced universal apprehension and dis
content, not only in the Massachusetts Bay, but in aU
America. A demand, attended with a penalty of dis
solution, seeraed a coraraand, not a requisition, leaving
no deliberative or discretionary power in the Assembly ;
and, the ground of it being a petition to the King,
guarded by a most expUcit declaration of the supreme
legislative power of ParUament, it wore the severe and
dreadful appearance of a penal prohibition against pe
titioning. It was in effect saying, you shaU not even

480 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
presume to complain; and reducing them below the
common state of slavery, in which, if men complam
with decency, they are heard, unless theh masters hap
pen to be monsters. It warmed moderation into zeal,
and inflamed zeal into rage. Yet stiU there appeared
a disposition to express their grievances in humble pe
titions. AU the AssembUes on the continent, in answer
to a requisition of simUar iraport to that aheady men
tioned, asserted the right of the subject to petition for
redress of grievances. They joined in petitions, stating
the iraposition of taxes upon them without theh con
sent, and the aboUtion of juries in revenue causes, as
intolerable grievances, from which they prayed relief.
The House of Representatives of Massachusetts Bay
drew up a letter to the Earl of HUlsborough, Secretary
of State, in which they vindicate their conduct from
the aspersions thrown upon it in the governor's letters ;
and add, "It is an inexpressible grief to the people
of this province, to find repeated censures falUng upon
them, not from ministers of state alone, but from Maj
esty hself, grounded on letters and accusations from the
governor, a sight of which, though repeatedly requested
of his ExceUency, is refused. There is no evU of this
Ufe, which they so sensibly feel, as the displeasure of
their sovereign. It is a punishment which they are
sure his Majesty wiU never inflict, but upon a repre
sentation of the justice of it, from his servants in whom
he confides. Your Lordship wiU aUow the House to
appeal to your own candor, upon the hardship of their
being made to suffer so severe a misfortune, without
their ever being caUed upon to answer for themselves,
or even made acquainted with the matters of charge
alleged against them ; a right to which, by the common
rules of society, founded in the eternal laws of reason
and equity, they are justly entided. The House of

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 481
Representatives of this province have more than once,
during the administration of Governor Bemard, been
under the necessity of entreating his Majesty's rainis
ters to suspend their further judgraent upon such rep
resentations of the teraper of the people, and the con
duct of the Assembly, as they were able to make appear
to be injurious. The same indulgence this House now
beg of your Lordship ; and beseech your Lordship to
patronize them so far as to make a favorable represen
tation of their conduct to the King, our sovereign ; it
being the highest ambition of this House, and of the
people whom they represent, to stand before his Maj
esty in their just character, of affectionate and loyal
subjects." On the 10th of June a seizure was made of a sloop
fastened to the wharf, with an armed force, and the seiz
ure carried by violence to the man-of-war. That this
seizure was raade with every circurastance of violence
and insult which could irritate a mob, is proved by the
oaths of thirteen eyewitnesses, who^e credibiUty has
never been impeached. Unhappily the irritation suc
ceeded but too weU. The coUector and controUer,
who made the seizure in that manner, were treated
with great indignity and personal injury by the mob.*
About the sarae time, the captain of the raan-of-war,
lying in the harbour at Boston, pressed sorae searaen
belonging to the town, in violation of an act of Parha
ment for the encouragement of trade to Araerica, which
'J.That the seizure was unjust is plain from this, that they were obliged
to restore the vessel, after detaining her a long time, not being able to
find any evidence to support a prosecution. The suits, too, for enor
mous sums against a number of persons, brought in the Court of Admi
ralty, being found insupportable, were, after long continuance, to the
great expense and trouble of their persons, dropped, by a declaration of
the King's advocate, that his Majesty would prosecute no farther ; but
the prosecuted could obtain no costs or damages, for so is the law.
VOL. IV. 61 00

482 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
says, 6 Anne, ch. 27, § 9 ; " No mariner, or other per
son, who shall serve on board, or be retained to serve
on board, any privateer, or trading ship or vessel, that
shaU be employed in any part of America, nor any
mariner, or person, being on shore in any part thereof,
shaU be Uable to be impressed or taken away, by any
officer or officers of, or belonging to, her Majesty's ships
of war."
The 'inhabitants of Boston, to preveut the turaults
which might be apprehended from so dangerous an
infraction of law, were assembled, and drew up a petir
tion to the governor praying his interposition to prevent
such alarraing outrages. The govemor, however, re
fused, upon various pretexts, to interfere.
The following words of their petition wUl show to
what state of alarm, anxiety, and despair, these pro
ceedings had reduced them. "Dutiful petitions," say
they, " have been preferred to our most gracious sove
reign, to which (though to the great consternation of the
people, we now learn they have been crueUy and in
sidiously prevented frora reaching the royal presence,)
we have waited to receive a gracious answer, wMh the
greatest attention to the public peace, until we find our
selves invaded with an arraed force, seizing, impressing,
and imprisoning the persons of our feUow subjects,
contrary to express acts of Parliament. Menaces have
been thrown out fit only for barbarians, which already
affect us in the most sensible manner, and threaten us
with famine and desolation, as aU navigation is ob
structed, upon which alone our whole support depends,
and the town is at this crisis in a situation nearly such
as if war were formally declared against it.
" To contend against our parent state is, in our idea,
the most shocking and dreadful extremity ; but tamely
to reUnquish the only security we and our posterity

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS". 483
retain of the enjoyment of our lives and properties,
without one struggle, is so humiUating and base, that
we cannot support the reflection. We apprehend, Sh,
diat h is in your option, in your power, and we would
hope in your inclmation, to prevent this distressed and
justiy incensed people from effecting too much, or from
die shame and reproach of attempting too Uttle."
The riot upon the seizure of the sloop was exagger
ated into treason and rebeUion. The coraraissioners
fled from the town in pretended fear of their lives;
affidavits were taken in secret and ex parte, and the
controUer, Mr. Hallowell, was despatched horae, to give
administration the most horrible idea of the people.
Govemor Bernard's letters to the Secretary of State
contEuned a direct charge of treason against forty per
sons, not one of whom was prosecuted, because the
whole was a forgery, calculated to meet the change of
system, which Governor Bernard has since informed
us they then knew had taken place at London, and
encourage the rigorous raeasures which the new system
was to pursue.
Unhappily it succeeded too weU. Troops were sent
to Boston, where they landed the 1st of October, 1768.
But a difficulty now arose, about quartering the troops
in the town, contrary to an act of Parliament. The
govemor, however, soon determined to cut the knot he
eould not untie. He therefore issued a commission, to
dispense with the law, and estabUsh quarters for the
troops in the town. I speak from his own letter.
Thus the people saw two acts of ParUament, made
for their protection, wantonly and with impunity vio
lated ; whUe those, which were to their feelings highly
unjust and oppressive, were to be rigorously executed
with a military force. Nothing could be devised more
hritating, except the manner in which the quartering

484 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
the soldiers was executed. They filled the General
Asserably roora, the Court-House, and FanueU Hall,
where the town raeetings were asserabled. When the
General Assembly met, the main guard was planted
with a number of field-pieces at, and pointed into, the
very door of the Assembly house. Every species of
insult and outrage was, as if purposely, practised to
drive the people into some violent act, which should
justify the letting loose the mUitary upon thera.
In consequence of the various violations of those laws
which should have protected thera, the minds of the
people were in the raost dangerous state of alarm and
agitation. To prevent the destructive coraraotions which
might be apprehended from such a disposition, the
moderate and well-disposed inhabitants of Boston pe
titioned the governor to caU an Assembly, that the pop
ular turbulence might be quieted by their confidence
in and respect for their own legislature. The governor,
however, thought proper to refuse thera this relief;
they therefore suramoned a convention of deputies from
the different townships, as the only raeans of compos
ing the agitation of men's minds, (frora which they
otherwise expected the worst consequences,) by their
confidence in persons deputed by themselves, to enter
into a wise and cool consideration of their grievances,
and the constitutional means of obtaining redress. The
selectmen of Boston have expressed these motives in
the following passage of their circular letter; "De
prived of the counsels of a General Assembly, in this
dark and difficult season, the loyal people of this prov
ince wiU, we are persuaded, immediately perceive the
propriety and utiUty of the proposed coraraittee of con
vention ; and the sound and wholesorae advice that
may be expected from a number of gentlemen chosen
by themselves, and in whom they may repose the

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 485
greatest confidence, must tend to the real service of our
most gracious sovereign, and the welfare of his subjects
in this province, and may happily prevent any sudden
and unconnected measures, which, in their present
anxiety, and even agony of mind, they may be m dan
ger of faUing into."
The convention met on the 22d of September, 1768,
and drew up an hurable petition to his Majesty, im
ploring rehef. " With great sincerity," say they, " per
mit us to assure your Majesty, that your subjects of
this province, of which we are a part, ever have ac
knowledged and StiU continue to acknowledge your
Majesty's High Court of Parhament the suprerae legis
lative power of the whole empire. The superintending
authority of which is clearly admitted in aU cases that
can consist with the fundamental rights of nature, and
the constitution to which your Majesty's happy subjects
in aU parts of your eraphe conceive they have a just
and equitable claim.
"It is, therefore, with the deepest concem, that your
humble suppUants would represent to your Majesty,
that your ParUament, the rectitude of whose intentions
is never to be questioned, has thought proper to pass
divers acts, imposing taxes on your Majesty's subjects
in America, with the sole and express purpose of rais
ing a revenue. If your Majesty's subjects here shaU
be deprived of the honor and privUege of voluntarily
contributing their aid to your Majesty in supporting
your government and authority in the province, and
defending and securing your rights and territories in
America, which they have always hitherto done with
the utmost cheerfulness ; if these acts of ParUament
shaU remain in force, and your Majesty's Comraons in
Great Britain shaU continue to exercise the power of
granting the property of theh feUow subjects in this

486 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
province, your people must then regret theh unhappy
fate, in having only the name left of free subjects."
The troops, which had landed at Boston without the
least opposition, determined, as it was natural to expect,.
to make the disturbance they were disappointed in not
finding. They offered a variety of insults to the peace
able inhabitants, and one of their officers was detected
in attempting to excite the Negroes to rebel; tiU at last
a party of soldiers, under the coramand of Captain
Preston, fired upon the people on the 5th of March,
1769, killing six, and wounding many more. So in
tolerable an outrage assembled the people, who were
so ranch incensed, that it was thought prudent for the
troops to evacuate the town:
The removal of the troops restored the tranquillity
of the town and the good-humor of the people, the
principal of whora exerted themselves to palliate the
conduct of Captain Preston, and obtain for him a favor
able trial. To this end, he was tried separately from
the soldiers ; and he was acquitted, because no evidence
could depose, that they heard hira give orders to fire.
Indeed, the noise of the turault was so great, that, if
he had given such orders, which he denied, none could
have heard him but the soldiers among whora he stood.
When the soldiers came to be tried, they pleaded the
orders of their captain, which they durst not disobey.
And oh the belief of this as a truth, the humane jury
acquitted them also. An instance of great temper and
equity in a people so exasperated.
It was iiot, however, intended, that the quiet of the
town and province should continue long. New modes
of irritation were applied, to drive the people into vio
lence and despair.
Mr. Robinson, one of the commissioners, who had
attempted to assassinate Mr. Otis, was despatched to

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 487
England immediately after the affair of the 5th of March,
with a case said to be that of Captain Preston, though
dfrectly repugnant to what he had published under his
own hand. This case had been secretly drawn up, and
was as secretly transmitted. The purpose of it was
to throw the charge of being the aggressors upon the
people, and that the soldiers fired upon them in their
own defence, and to save the Custom-House from be
ing plundered. This stateraent was ' accompanied by
minutes of CouncU fraraed by the secretary himself, and
secretly sworn to, in which one of his Majesty's coun
cU was represented as declaring, that there had been
a premeditated design and plan of a general insurrec
tion formed by the people, of which this attack' upon
the guard was the first step. Absurd as it was to sup
pose, that the people had planned and begun to exe
cute an insurrection, and yet not a raan appear in arras,
for no such thing was pretended, stiU the exaraple of
the success and irapunity with which Governor Bemard
had accused them specifically of treason, without being
able to prove a tittle of it, was enough to encourage
Govemor Hutchinson, and his brother-in-law the secre
tary, to repeat a simUar charge on this occasion, which_
they knew would operate for the time; and, being
made secretly, they trusted it would not be known, so
as to meet a refutation. Mr. Coraraissioner Robinson
arrived in London, and his " State," &c. was circulated
through the ministry and members of ParUament, and,
supported by his personal applications, inflamed them
against the province. In the mean time, the town pro
ceeded to draw up their naiTative of the affair, founded
upon affidavits taken openly, with notice given to aU
persons concerned to attend and cross-examine the
witnesses. Upon this open and fair inquiry, it appeared
by the testimony of near a hundred persons, that the

488 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
soldiers were the aggressors, having fired upon the
people without sufficient provocation, and without the
intervention of, or even appUcation to, the civU magis
trate. It was not untU October, 1770, that the representa
tion and affidavit of their secretary, Mr. Oliver, reached
his Majesty's Council at Boston, in a pamphlet, which
had been published in London, to justify the proceed
ings of the miUtary on the 5th of March, 1769, and
accuse the people. The raember to whom he had ira
puted the words, which were calculated to convey the
idea of an insurrection having been planned by the
people, pubUcly made oath, that the secretary had mis
represented his words, and that he never knew, or
heard, or even thought of any such plan. The other
merabers of CouncU, who were present, also made oath,
that Mr. Oliver's account was a misrepresentation ; and
the CouncU came unanimously to the foUowing resolu
tions ; " That Andrew OUver, Esquhe, secretary of
this province, by secretly taking minutes at Council, of
what was said by the members of the Council, in their
debates, also by signing a paper containing those min
utes, and further by giving his deposition to the truth
of it, has, in each and aU those instances, acted incon
sistent with the duty of his office, and thereby is guilty
of a breach of trust."
Mr. OUver, thus stigmatized, was soon after appointed
lieutenant-governor of the province. Unhappily this wore
the appearance of rewarding him for his treachery to
the CouncU, and his enmity to the people, which tended
necessarily to diminish the confidence and respect due
to governraent, and to spread discontent through the
province. On the 13th of May, 1770, Governor Hutchinson
held the Assembly at Carabridge, obUging thera to quit

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 489
Boston, where aU the public records and conveniences
for carrying on business, were lodged. The two Houses
remonstrated against this, not only as highly hiconven-
ient and distressing to thera, and an erabarrassraent to
pubhc business, but an infringeraent of their chartered
rights. Notwithstanding this, the Assembly was con
tinued there for two sessions without any reason being
given but raere wUl and pleasure (signified in instruc
tions from the minister), and then it was adjourned to
Boston, not as an act of graciousness, but of caprice.
It was impossible but that such proceedings must have
irritated men's minds, and raised among aU ranks of
people a spirit of discontent and distrust.*
The proceedings in England were not more concU-
iating. Govemor Bemard had, by various false and inflam
matory representations, concentred upon the province
the whole force of royal and parliaraentary indignation.
He had expressly accused certain persons of a treason
able design, their naraes, as he pretended, being en
rolled for the purpose, to seize the castle and tura it
against the King's troops.
This intelUgence produced the foUowing address from
the House of Lords to the King, on the 15th of De
ceraber, 1768, concurred in by the Coraraons on the
9th of Febmary, 1769.
"As we conceive that nothing can be more imme-
* The Assembly of South Carolina was about the same time removed
from Charleston to Port Royal, a remote place, unfit to accommodate
thera. This method of harassing AssembUes into the measures of a
ministry, seems borrowed from the favorite minister of Henry the Third,
who, "to work his ends," (as Gascoigne tells us,) " caused the Parliament
to sit in villihus et remoiis partibus regni, where few people, propter de
fectum hospitii et victualium, could attend, and by shifting that Assembly
ftom place to place to enforce," (in the author's words,) " illos paucos,
qui remanebunt de communiiate regni, concedere regi quamvis pessima "
VOL. IV. 62

490 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
diately necessaryj either for the maintenance of his
Majesty's authority in the said province, or for guarding
his Majesty's subjects therein from being further de
luded by the arts of wicked and designing men, than
to proceed in the most speedy and effectual manner
for bringing to condign punishment the chief authors
and instigatcB"S of the late disorders, we beseech his
Majesty, that he wUl be graciously pleased to direct his
Majesty's govemor of Massachusetts Bay to take the
most effectual methods for procuring the fuUest infor
mation that can be obtained touching aU treasons, or
misprisions of treason, coraraitted within his govemment
since the SOth day of December last, and to trans
mit the same, together with the naraes of the persons
who were the raost active in the coraraission of such
offences, to one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of
State, in order that his Majesty raay issue a special
commission for inquiring of, hearing, and determining
the said offences within this realm, pursuant to the pro
visions of the statute of the thirty-fifth year of the
reign of King Henry the Eighth, if his Majesty shaH,
upon receiving the said inforraation, see sufficient ground
for such a proceeding."
His Majesty's answer was;
"I shaU not faU to give those orders which you
recoraraend, as the most effectual method of bringing
the authors of the late unhappy disorders in that prov
ince to condign punishment."
But Governor Bemard, thus armed with aU the powers
of government, was unable to substantiate his accusa
tion against a single person. The purposes for which
the accusation was devised were fuUy answered. An
odium had been fixed upon the people, a miUtary force
had been se^t, which proraised to create the very re
belUon he had fal&ely declared to exist, for the pur
pose of procuring that force.

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 491
The manner in which he proceeded in his endeav
ours to stir up resistance and create disorders, is thus
described in the narrative of the town, and which he
has never been able to contradict.
" Govemor Bernard, without consulting the CouncU,
havmg given up the State-House to the troops at their
landing, they took possession of the chambers where
the representatives of the province and the court of law
held their meetings ; and (except the councU-chamber)
of aU other parts of the house ; in which they contin
ued a considerable time, to the great annoyance of those
courts whUe they sat, and of the merchants and gen
tlemen of the town, who had always made the lower
floor of it thefr exchange. They had a right so to do,
as the property of it was in the town ; but they were
deprived of that right by mere power. The said gov
emor soon after, by every stratagem and method, but
a forcible entry, endeavoured to get possession of the
manufactory house, to raake a barrack of it for the
troops ; and for that purpose caused it to be besieged
by the troops, and the people in it to be used very
cruelly ; which extraordinary proceedings created uni
versal uneasiness, arising from the apprehension, that
the troops, under the influence of such a man, would
be employed to effect the most dangerous purposes.
But, faiUng of that, other houses were procured, in which,
contrary to act of ParUament, he caused the troops
to be quartered. After their quarters were thus set
tled, the main guard was posted at one of the said
houses, directly opposite to, and not twelve yards from,
the State-House, (where the General Court and aU the
law courts for the county were held,) whh two field-
pieces pointed to the State-House. This situation of
the main guard and field-pieces seeraed to indicate an
attack upon the consthution, and a defiance of law;

492 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
and to be intended to affront the legislative and exec
utive authority of the province."
The General Court, at the first session after the ar
rival of the troops, viewed it in this Ught, and appUed
to Governor Bemard to remove such an offence, but to
no purpose. Disgusted at such an indignity, and at
the appearance of being under duress, they refused to
do business in such a situation, and were reraoved
to another place, to the great inconvenience of the
raembers. Besides this, the chaUenging the inhabitants by sen
tinels posted in all parts of the town, occasioned many
quarrels and great uneasiness. It was fuUy proved
against Captain WUson of the fifty -ninth regiment, that
he was exciting the Negroes of the town to take away
their masters' lives and property, and repair to the army
for protection. To these were added various outrages,
such as the soldiers' attacking and insulting the raagis
trates of the town, rescuing their feUows from the peace
officers, firing loaded muskets in the streets, to the
great alarm and danger of the peaceable inhabitants,
and wounding persons frequently and wantonly with
their bayonets and cutlasses.
These insults and outrages did not, however, produce
the insurrection that was wished ; but a humble petition
frora the representatives of the people to his Majesty
against the author of aU those evUs, Governor Bernard.
This petition was voted the 27th of June, 1769.
The governor prorogued the Asserably to January 10th,
1770, and came over to England. On the 25th of Oc
tober, he presented a petition to bring the charges
against him to a hearing. In the mean tirae orders
were sent to the Ueutenant-govemor, Mr. Hutchinson,
to prorogue the Asserably to the 14th of March, which
was done accordingly. Notwithstandmg the agent

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 493
represented the impossibUity of the Assembly even
knowing that thefr petition was to be heard, rauch less
transmitting evidence in support of the allegations it
contained, that this impossibUity was created by the
very person accused, and who, in the face of that,
called upon thera to support their charge, to which the
agent added a hurable prayer, that the hearing might
be deferred tUl convenient time was given for the meet
ing of the Asserably, and transmission of evidence ; yet
the petition was ordered peremptorily to a hearing on
the 28th of February, when, in default of evidence, the
several chai-ges in it were declared "groundless, vexa
tious, and scandalous," and that the petitioning could
only be with a view of " keeping up a spirit of clamor
and discontent in the said province."
Thus the people had the grief and raortification to
find, that, whether they were the accusers or the ac
cused, they were sure of being censured and con
demned. This man had been instrumental in bringing
upon them the odium of disaffection and rebelUon ; he
had shut the ear of the King and Parliament against
thefr appUcations for redress of grievances; he had
contributed to the havmg a miUtary force sent to dra
goon them ; he had, in violation of an express act of
Parharaent, quartered those troops m their town, with
every circumstance of insolence and outrage ; he had
subjected thera to the intolerable oppression of being
dragged three thousand raUes, upon mere suspicion, to
stmggle for their hves and property, without friends and
without witnesses, against aU the force of ministerial
prosecution. Yet it was conceived, that to petition
against such a man could only flow from factious mo
tives ; and, because his own agency m prorogumg the
Assembly rendered it unpossible they should even
know it was requfred of them to support thefr charges
pp

494 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
against him, those charges were pronounced groundlese
and maUcious. Whh the feelings of men, they could
not but be sensibly affected by these proceedings,
which, to speak in the language of the poet,
"preaching to stones,
Would make them capable."
To heighten the coloring of these transactions, orders
were sent in 1771 to the governor, to refuse his ass^it
to any tax bUl, which should include the commissioners
of customs. These gentlemen, whose officious and m-
cendiary zeal against that country had raised them to
office, were to be distinguished more than the first men
in this country, by an exemption from sharing in the
common burdens of the community.
In 1772, the judges' salaries were ordered to be paid
out of the extorted revenue, and not by grants from
the representatives of the people, as had been the con
stant usage. Nothing could alarm the people more
than this establishment, as it struck at once at the very
root of the impartial administration of justice. The
inhabitants of Boston say in their address to the gov
ernor, that, "as the judges hold thefr places during
pleasure, this estabUshment was big with the most
fatal evils."
Both Governor Bemard and Governor Hutchinson
had repeatedly represented the discontent and opposi
tion, as arising from a factious few in Boston ; and that
the province in general were averse to thefr measures,
and satisfied with thefr situation. To ascertain the
general sentiments of the people, a committee was ap
pointed at Boston, to represent their sense of griev
ances to the rest of the townships, and take their
opinion upon them. This was accordingly done, the
2d of November, 1772. The rest of the towns con
curred most unanimously in the same sense of griev
ances, and desire of having them redressed

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 496
On the 6th of January, 1773, Govemor Hutchinson,
in his speech to the two Houses of Assembly, chal-
Iraiges thera to a controversy upon the supreme legis
lative authority of Parliament. The Assembly, in thefr
answer, talfe up the question as a point of argument
and speculation, refuting his arguraents, and contro
verting his conclusions. It was a question, which, of
themselves, they had never ventured to agitate, and
they entered into it now, when publicly provoked to it,
with avowed reluctance. "We have the highest re
spect," say they, "for that august body, the Parliament,
and do not presume to prescribe the exact Umits of its
authority. Yet, with the deference that is due to it,
we are humbly of opinion, that, as all huraan authority,
in the nature of it, is and ought to be Uraited, it cannot
constitutionally extend, for the reasons we have above
suggested, to the levymg of taxes in any form on his
Majesty's subjects of this province. These are great
and profound questions. It is the grief of this House,
that, by the iU policy of a late injudicious adrainistra
tion, America has been driven into the contemplation of
them. And we cannot but express our concern, that
your Excellency by your speech has reduced us to the
unhappy alternative, either of appearing by our sUence
to acquiesce in your ExceUency's sentiments, or of
thus freely discussing this point."
The raost charitable construction of this conduct in
the governor, is that it was prompted by indiscreet
zeal; the most probable conjecture is, that it was a
snare laid for the two Houses, to draw them into such
a denial of the supreme legislative authority of this
eomitry, as might expose them to its utmost indigna
tion. Whether it arose from malice or mdiscretion, most
certainly it was courting the discussion of a question,
which common sense and common honesty would have

496 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
wished to cover with a sacred and irapenetrable veil.
But the two Houses, though compeUed into the discussion
of the right as a speculative point, had no idea of draw
ing it into question practically. For, in March follow
ing, the House of Representatives transraitted a letter
to the Secretary of State, (the Earl of Dartraouth,) in
which they thus state the exercise of that power, which
was questionable as to the right and grievous in its
operation. " Your Lordship is weU acquainted with the several
acts, by which the British ParUament have thought
proper, within a few years past, to raise a revenue in
America, without our consent. The raany and weighty
reasons against, and objections to, those acts, are so
weU known and understood by your Lordship, that we
shaU not take off your attention to the great affairs of
the nation, by particularly mentioning thera at this time.
We only beg leave to say, that we apprehend they
tend to injure our coraraerce and subvert our liberties,
and therefore are unjust, impolitic, and destructive of
the real interest of the whole empire."
The same temper and moderation appears in the
letter addressed by both Houses to the Earl of Dart
mouth. " Province of the Massachusetts Bay,
" June 29th, 1773.
"My Lord,*
" The reestabUshraent of the union and harmony that
formerly subsisted between Great Britain and her col
onies is earnestly to be wished by the friends of both.
As your Lordship is one of them, the two Houses of
the Asserably of this province beg leave to address you.
The original causes of the interruption of that union
* The Right Honorable the Earl of Dartmouth.

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 497
and harmony may probably be found in the letters sent
frora hence to administration, and to other gentle
men of influence in Parliament, since the appointment
of Sir Francis Bernard to the government of this prov
ince ; and there is great reason to apprehend, that he
and his coadjutors originally recommended and laid the
plans for the establishing the American revenue, out of
which they expected large stipends and appointments
for themselves, a'nd which, through their instrumental
ity, has been the occasion of aU the evUs that have
since taken place.
" When we had humbly addressed his Majesty, and
pethioned both Houses of ParUament, representing our
grievances, and praying for the repeal of the revenue
acts, the like instruments, and probably the same, ex
erted themselves to prevent those petitions being laid
before his Majesty and the ParUament, or to frustrate
the prayer of them. Of this we have just had some
new and unexpected evidence from original letters of
Governor Hutchinson and Lieutenant-Governor Oliver;
in which the former particularly and expressly, by his
letter of the 10th of Deceraber, 1768, endeavoured, in
cooperation with Governor Bernard, to frustrate a peti
tion of a number of the CouncU for the repealing those
acts, and to procure his Majesty's censure on the peti
tioners ; and the letters of the latter, by the disadvan
tageous idea conveyed by thera of the two Houses
of Asserably, manifestly tended to create a prejudice
against any petitions coming from a body of such a
character; and his letter of the llth of May, 1768, in
particular, mentions the petition of the House of Rep
resentatives to his Majesty, and their letters to divers
noble Lords, with such circumstances as had a tenden
cy to defeat the petition, and render the letters of no
effect. VOL. IV. 63 pp*

498 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
"It is now manifest, my Lord, what practices and
arts have been used to mislead administration, both
in the first proposal of American revenue acts, and in
the continuance of thera ; but, when they had lost theh
force, and there appeared, under the influence of your
Lordship, a disposition in Parliaraent to repeal those
acts, his Excellency Governor Hutchinson, in his speech
at the opening of the last session of the General Court,
was pleased to throw out new matter for contention
and debate, and to caU on the two Houses, in such a
pressing raanner as amounted to litde short of a chal
lenge, to answer him. Into such a dilemma were they
brought by the speech, that they were under a neces
sity of giving such answers to it as they did, or having
their conduct construed into an acquiescence with the
doctrines contamed in it, which would have been an
impUcit acknowledgment, that the province was in a
state of subjection differing very little from slavery.
The answers were the effect of necessity, and this
necessity occasioned great grief to the two Houses.
The people of this province, my Lord, are true and
faithful subjects of his Majesty, and think themselves
happy in their connexion with Great Britain.
" They would rejoice at the restoration of the har
mony and good-wiU, that once subsisted between the
parent state and them ; but it is in vain to expect this
happiness during the contmuance of thefr grievances,
and whUe the charter rights, one after another, are
wrested from them. Among these rights is the sup
porting of the officers of the crown by grants from the
Assembly ; and, in an especial manner, the supporting
of the judges in the same way, on whose judgment
the province is dependent, in the most important cases
of Ufe, liberties, and property. If warrants have not
yet been, or if they already have been issued, we

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 499
eamesdy beg the favor of your Lordship's interposition
to suppress or recaU them. If your Lordship shoidd
condescend to ask, what are the means of restoring the
harmony so much desired, we shotdd answer, in a word,
that we are humbly of opinion, if things loere br&ught
to IM general state in which they stood at ihe conclu
sion of the late war, it would restore the happy harmony
which at that time subsisted.
" Your Lordship's appointment to be principal Sec
retary of State for the American department has giv
en the colonies the highest satisfaction. They think
it a happy omen, and that it wiU be productive of
American tranquilUty, consistent with thefr rights as
British subjects. The two Houses humbly hope for
your Lordship's influence to bring about so happy an
event ; and in the mean time they can with fuU confi
dence rely on your Lordship, that the machinations of
Sir Francis Bemard, and other known enemies of the
peace of Great Britain and her colonies, wUl not be
suffered to prevent or delay it.
"This letter, which has been agreed on by both
Houses, is in their name, and by thefr order, signed
and ti-ansmitted to your Lordship by, my Lord, your
Lordship's most obedient and very humble servant,
"Tho. Flucker, Secretary."
In the mean tirae the representatives of the people
have omitted no opportunity of laying their griefs at the
foot of the throne, with the most humble suppUcations
for reUef.
Their petition to the King, m 1772, speaks thus;
"The mhabitants of this province had long shared in
the blessings of good government under the mild ad
ministration of your Majesty, and your royal predeces
sors, until your British Parliament saw fit to pass di
vers acts for the express purpose of i-aising a revenue

500 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
in America, without the consent of your subjects inhab
iting therein. It was this that filled the minds of your
subjects of this province with discontent ; being grieved,
that your Majesty's CouncU should advise to a measure,
which in a great degree deprives thera of the rights
and Uberties of free and natural subjects, granted to
thera by the charter. The House of Representatives
did, in the year 1768, deraonstrate to your Majesty this
grievous infraction of their dearest rights of English
men. Our hearts are too deeply impressed with loyalty
and affection to your Majesty's person and family to
iraagine, that a failure of the redress then prayed for
can be iraputed to any want of paternal regard in your
royal mind for aU your subjects. It becomes us rather
to suppose, that the petition and complaint, unfortunate
ly for us, did not reach the throne."
They repeat the same subject of coraplaint in their
petitionof 1773, in these words; "The Parliaraent of
Great Britain, in which your subjects here are not and
cannot be represented, hath exercised a power of rais
ing a revenue within the province, to the great grief
and distress of your Majesty's people, and, we con
ceive, in repugnance to the royal charter. Your pe
titioners did, at the last session of this Assembly,
make their humble supplication to your Majesty, pray
ing the interposition of your royal clemency for the
redress ^f their grievances ; but we know not whether
our petition was ever laid before your Majesty."
Besides the causes of uneasiness and irritation al
ready mentioned, sundry instructions have been sent
to the governor of this province, since the year 1770,
which tended to keep the people in continual alarm and
discontent. The nature of these instructions is fuUy
explained in the foUowing extract from a letter of the
House of Representatives to the Earl of Dartmouth.

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 501
" We cannot refrain from expressing our strongest
apprehensions, that the instructions which have of late
been given to the governor by the ministry, if persisted
in, wiU entirely destroy our liberties, and subvert our
happy constitution. In pursuance of instructions, the
garrison of our principal fortress, Castie WilUam, has
been withdrawn, and a garrison of his Majesty's regu
lar troops, over whom the governor has declared he has
no control, placed in their stead. By this raeans the
governor has no longer that command of this fortress,
which he is vested with by the royal charter. Upon
this occasion we would refer it to your Lordship's con
sideration, whether the estabhshraent of the office and
power of a railitary comraander-in-chief, not subordinate
to, but independent of, uncontroUed by, and in sorae
instances superseding, the power and authorities afready
granted to the governors and captains-general of the
provinces, with a jurisdiction extending over the whole
continent of Araerica, is not repugnant to law, and to
the principles of prudence and sound poUcy ; and raust
not be very alarmmg to all those, who have any regard
for the Uberties of the consthution ekher of Great Brit
ain or of the colonies.
" By virtue of instructions, the Honorable his Majes
ty's Council are forbid to meet and transact matters of
a pubUc concern, as a councU of advice to the gover
nor, unless caUed by the governor ; and, if they should
so meet at any time, the governor is ordered to nega
tive them at the next election.
"Notwithstanding the charter fully authorizes and
empowers the General Court to impose and levy pro
portionable and reasonable rates and taxes upon the
estates and persons of aU and every the proprietors and
inhabhants of the province, yet the governor has been
instructed not to give his consent to any law or laws.

502 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
by which the commissioners, or any person employed
in the King's service, whose offices have no pecuUar
relation to this province, shall be taxed. This we con
ceive is repugnant to the privilege granted by charter,
which makes the General Court the only proper judges
who are to be exempted from taxes. By instmction
also, the govemor is forbid to give his consent, upon
any pretence whatever, to any vote or order for the
payment of any salary or allowance to any person or
persons appointed to negotiate the affafrs of the prov
ince in Great Britain, other than such as shall be there
unto appointed by an act of the whole legislature, or by
a vote of the House of Representatives, to which the
governor and CouncU respectively have given their con
currence. Of what service can such an agent be to
the province, especially while matters, which so nearly
affect the very fundamentals of the constitution, are in
dispute ? For, if he must receive his instructions from
aU the branches of the legislature, as may, and un
doubtedly wiU be insisted on, can it be expected they
wiU agree in a set of instructions in our present critical
situation ? If it should be said, that either branch would
have a right to instruct the agent separately, yet it may
happen, especiaUy if the agent be equally obUged to
pursue his instructions from each branch, that in the
most important matters the instructions wUl be various
and contradictory, which must totally deprive us of
any benefit from his agency, in all such cases. In
short, it is defeating us of every valuable purpose, as
we conceive, that might accme to the province by an
agent at the court of Great Britain. Moreover, with
such an agent, under the direction of the three branch
es, wUl it not be utterly impracticable for the Assem
bly ever to lay before their sovereign their complaints
against the corrupt and arbitrary administration of a

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 503
governor? Self-defence, my Lord, whether it regard
individuals or bodies of men, is the first law of nature.
The right of defence includes aU means requisite and
proper for that defence, and consequently a right to
appoint and support their own defender. It must there
fore appear, that the House has, more especiaUy when
their dearest rights are at stake, a clear and just right
to appomt an agent for themselves, without the con
currence of the govemor.
" It must be apparent to your Lordship, that, while
our judges hold their commissions during pleasure only,
if they are to receive their support from the crown, in
dependent of the free grants of the people, they w'lll
be dependent on the crown both for their places and
support; and we should submit to your Lordship's
consideration, whether this be not a situation in whicli
no man could wish to be, who is properly impressed
with a sense of huraan depravity, or who has a due
regard for justice. In such a case, what decisions
must the people expect, when the dispute lies between
prerogative and privUege?
" We beg your Lordship's candid attention to the
unhappy circumstances of the province ; and hope the
representation we have made of our grievances wUl
meet with a favorable reception. The colonies are far
from being insensible of thefr happiness in being con
nected with the mother country, and of the mutual
benefits derived from it ; and shaU at all times esteem
it our glory to cultivate, as far as our influence may
extend, the warmest sentiraents of loyalty and affection
to his Majesty, and to promote a happy union and har
mony between the subjects of Great Britahi and those
of the colonies. We are greatly aggrieved. We think
it our indispensable duty to pomt out to your Lord
ship our grievances ; and we have frequently done it

604 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
heretofore to administratipn. We have faUed of suc
cess. Instead of being reUeved, our grievances have
been increased. Our constituents are justly and uni
versally alarmed, and filled with anxious concern, at the
present posture of affairs."
It is proper to say a single word about agency. Mr.
De Berdt was appointed by the House only, 7th No
vember, 1765; he was admitted, without the least
question, as agent, at the Board of Trade, under dif
ferent adrainistrations, and Governor Bernard gave his
assent to a biU for paying his salary so late as the year
1768. It happened to be the duty of the agent soon
after to convey the coraplaints of his constituents to
the throne, both against the rainister and the governor.
In this business a faithful, honest agent was found
exceedingly troublesorae. Such representations were
therefore made by the governor, and such instructions
sent by the minister, as incapacitated the House from
paying their agent, unless they would have one ap
proved of by the very persons against whom it might
be his duty to act. This raeasure needs no comraent.
It is not in human depravity to devise an act of more
gross injustice, than that of debarring men of the
means of defending themselves when accused, or of
complaining when injured.
With aU these repeated disappointraents and accu
mulated grievances rankling in the rainds of the people,
the House of Representatives received, through the
hands of their agent, sorae original letters written by
their governor and lieutenant-governor to persons of
influence in England. These letters contained a most
unfavorable representation of the principles and pro
ceedings of the people, and of their representatives.
They caUed for punishment upon individuals, and re
straints upon the whole, by an abridgment of thefr

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 505
liberties. The means of altering the charter, and of
new raodeUing the constitution of the colony, so as
to render the crown absolute, were pointed out with a
malignant abiUty. Strong injunctions were added of
the necessity of finding out sorae way " to take off
the original incendiaries," lest they should "continue
to instU their poison into the rainds of the people."
These letters were read with grief, astonishraent,
and indignation. The people viewed the writers of
thera in the raost crirainal Ught. They considered them
as the intentional authors of aU their past calaraities,
and the enemies of their future peace and happiness.
What aggravated the crirae was, that these men were
their countryraen, had always professed the warraest
wishes for the welfare of the province and of the peo
ple; and, in consequence of those professions, had
obtained their highest confidence and respect. This
character was pecuUarly corapetent to one of the letter-
writers. He was the Strafford of his tirae. The se
cret manner in which the letters had been conveyed,
made the treachery tenfold more terrible and offensive.
The House of Representatives voted an hurable pe
tition to the King for the removal of these governors,
"who had rendered themselves justly obnoxious to the
people, and entirely lost their confidence." His Maj
esty's CouncU in the province resolved, at the same
time, that it would be for his Majesty's service, and the
peace of the province, to remove thera.
The petition was heard before a coraraittee of the
Lords of the Privy CouncU, where an iUiberal lawyer
was hired and perrahted to abuse the petitioners and
their agent, in the grossest terras scurrility could in
vent ; and the Lords reported, " That the petition was
groundless, vexatious, and scandalous, and calculated
only for the seditious purpose of keeping up a spirit
vol. IV. 64 QQ

506 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
of clamor and discontent in the province. That noth
ing had been laid before them, which did or could, in
their opinion, in any manner, or in any degree, impeach
the honor, integrity, or conduct of the govemor or
Ueutenant-governor." It is curious to observe, that Mr. Hutchinson, hi his
History, has described his own situation in that of Gov
ernor Dudley, in the year 1705. "The people," says
he, "in genial, looked upon him as an enemy, even to
the privUeges of the new charter. Sfr Henry Ashurst
procured an original letter, wrote by the governor's son
Paul, who was then attorney-general, to Mr. Floyd, and
sent it to New England, in which were these expres
sions ; ' The government and College are disposed of
here, in chimney-corners and private meetings, as con
fidently as can be. This country will never be worth
living in, for gentlemen and lawyers, till the charter is
taken aicay.' Copies were dispersed about the prov
ince, and the letter was soon after printed."
Sir Henry Ashurst was agent for the provhice, and
a man of high character, credit, and honor. Mr. Hutch
inson passes no censure on this action, neither does it
appear to have been censured at the time. Not that
Wedderburns were wanting, but that the times did not
countenance their scurrility.
In December, 1773, a large quantity of tea, shipped
by the East India Company, with the duty imposed by
Parliament to be paid in America, arrived at Boston.
AU the colonies, to which the tea under the same cir
cumstances was destined, had publicly resolved that it
should not be admitted. The directors of the East
India Company had been forewarned of its fate, and an
offer made before it was shipped to pay the duty here.
But the tea was destined to produce the commotions
it occasioned, and the offer was rejected. The people

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 507
met in Boston, and insisted on the tea being sent back.
The governor refused to permit the ship to retum,
upon which some persons in disguise destroyed it in the
night. It is manifest, that the governor intended to
urge them to this extremity, or else he would have
acted, as General Haldimand writes he expected Gov
emor Tryon would do, " to prevent dangerous extrem
ities, rather choose to permit the teas should be sent
back to England." The same was permitted at Phila
delphia, and the tea actuaUy sent back on the 27th of
December. General Haldhnand declares this was the
determination of every colony. "The several gover
nors," says he, "of other provinces wiU undoubtedly
make your Lordship acquainted with the opposition
intended and made in their respective governments
against the landing the tea ; the whole proceeding
from an almost unanimous resolution not to pay any
new duties or taxes laid by the ParUament of Great
Britam." Govemor Hutchinson's son and his near relation were
the consignees of the tea, and the persons most inter
ested in the sale of it. As the consignees had refused
to resign the tea, their windows were broke by the
mob. Upon this they appUed to his Majesty's CouncU
for protection, who came to the foUowing report upon
the apphcation.
"In Council, November 27th, 1773, the petitionof
Richard Clark, Esquire, and others (to whom the East
India Company have consigned a quantity of their tea)
being referred to this day, the same was taken up;
and, after long debates, Mr. Danforth, Mr. Bowdom,
Mr. Dexter, and Mr. Wmthrop were appomted a com
mittee thereon, who reported, and their report after
debate was referred for further consideration to Mon
day next, at ten o'clock, A. M.

508 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
"Monday, November 29th, 1773. The said report
was again considered, and after sorae araendraent it
was unanimously agreed to. It is as foUows.
" Previous to the consideration of the petition before
the Board, they would make a few observations occa
sioned by the subject of it. The situation of things
between Great Britain and the colonies has been for
some years past very unhappy. Parhament on the one
hand has been taxing the colonies, and they on the
other have been petitioning and remonstrating against
it ; apprehending they have constitutionally an exclu
sive right of taxing themselves, and that without such
a right their condition would be but Uttie better than
slavery. Possessed of these sentiments, every new
measure of ParUament, tending to estabUsh and confirm
a tax on thera, renews and increases thefr distress ;
and it is particularly increased by the act lately raade,
erapowering the East India Corapany to ship their tea
to Araerica.
"This act, in a commercial view, they think intro
ductive of monopolies, and tending to bring on them
the extensive evils thence arising; but their great
objection to it is from its being manifestly intended
(though that intention is not expressed therein) more
effectually to secure the payraent of the duty on tea,
laid by an act passed in the seventh year of his present
Majesty, entitled, 'An Act for granting certain Duties
in the British Colonies and Plantations in Araerica';
which act in its operation deprives the colonists of the
right above mentioned (the exclusive right of taxing
themselves), which they hold to be so essential an one,
that it cannot be taken away, or given up, without thefr
being degraded, or degrading themselves, below the
character of raen. It not only deprives thera of that
right, but enacts, that the moneys arising from the

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 509
duties granted by it may be applied 'as his Majesty
or his successors shaU think proper or necessary, for
defraying the charges of the adrainistration of justice,
and the support of the civU governraent, within aU or
any of the said colonies and plantations.'
" This clause of the act has already operated in some
of the colonies, and in this colony in particular, with
regard to the support of civU government, and there
by has operated in diminution of its charter rights, to
the great grief of the good people of it, who have been,
and StUl are, greatly alarmed by repeated reports, that
it is to have a further operation with respect to the
defraying the charge of the adrainistration of justice,
which would not only be a further diminution of those
rights, but tend in all constitutional questions, and hi
many other cases of importance, to bias the judges
against the subject. They humbly rely on the justice
and goodness of his Majesty for the restitution and
preservation of those rights.
" This short state of facts the Board thought neces
sary to be given, to show the cause of the present
great uneasiness, which is not confined to this neigh
bourhood, but is general and extensive. The people
think their exclusive right of taxing theraselves, by
their representatives, infringed and violated by the act
above mentioned ; that the new act, empowering the
East India Company to import their tea into Araerica,
confirras that violation, and is a new effort, not only
more effectually to secure the payment of the tea duty,
but lay a foundation for the enhancing it ; and in a hke
way, if this should succeed, to lay other taxes on Amer
ica ; that it is in its attendants and consequences ruin
ous to the Uberties and properties of themselves and
thefr posterity; that, as their nuraerous petitions for
rehef have been rejected, the said new act demon-
QQ*

510 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
strates an unwiUingness in ministry that ParUament
should grant them relief; that this is the source of
their distress, that borders on despair ; and that they
know not where to apply for reUef.
"These being the sentiments of the people, it is
become the indispensable duty of the Board to men
tion them, that the occasion of the late demands on
Mr. Clark and others (the agents for the East India
Company), and of the consequent disturbances, might
appear ; and we mention them, not to justify those dis
turbances, the authors of which we havcadvised should
be prosecuted, but to give a just idea of the rise of
them. " On this occasion, justice impels us to declare, that
the people of this town and province, though they have
a high sense of Uberty, derived from the manners, the
example, and constitution of the mother country, have,
tiU the late ParUamentary taxations of the colonies,
been as free from disturbances as any people whatever.
"This representation the Board thought necessary
to be made, prior to their taking notice of the petition
of the agents above mentioned; to the consideration
of which they now proceed.
"The petitioners 'beg leave to resign theraselves,
and the property committed to their care, to his Ex
ceUency and the Board, as guardians and protectors
of the people, praying that measures may be dfrected
to for the landing and securing the tea,' &c. With
regard to the personal protection of the petitioners, the
Board have not been informed, that they have appUed
for h to any of the justices of the peace ; within whose
department it is to take cognizance of the case of the
petitioners, and of aU other breaches of the peace ; they
being vested by law with all the authority necessary
for the protection of his Majesty's subjects. In the

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 511
prmcipal instance of abuse,* ^f which they complain,
the Board have already advised, that the authors should
be prosecuted according to law ; and they do advise
the same in the other instances mentioned in thefr
pethion. " With regard to the tea committed to the care of
the petitioners, the Board have no authority to take
either that or any other merchandise out of their care ;
and, should they do it, or give any order or advice con
ceming it, and a loss ensue, they apprehend they should
make themselves responsible for it. With respect to
the prayer of the petition, ' that measures may be di
rected to for landing and securing the tea,' the Board
would observe on it, that the duty on the tea becomes
payable, and must be paid, or secured to be paid, on
its being landed. And should they direct or advise to
any measure for landing it, they would of course advise
to a raeasure for procuring the payment of the duty,
and therefore be advising to a measure inconsistent with
the declared sentiment of both Houses in the last win
ter session of the General Court, which they apprehend
to be altogether inexpedient and improper.
" The Board, however, on this occasion assure your
ExceUency, that, as they have seen with regret some
late disturbances, and have advised to the prosecuting
the authors of them, so they will, in aU legal raethods,
endeavour, to the utraost of their power, to prevent
them in future.
" Whereupon advised, that his ExceUency renew his
orders to his Majesty's justices of the peace, sheriffs,
and other peace officers, to exert themselves to the
utmost for the security of his Majesty's subjects, the
preservation of peace and good order, and for prevent
ing aU offences against the law."
* Some of their windows were broken.

612 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
On the 18th of February, 1774, the whole House
of Representatives waited on the govemor with a
second petition, for the removal of the chief justice,
who had rendered himself incapable, by accepting, a
salary from the crown, at whose wiU he also held his
place. They say; "Your Excellency wiU please to
consider, that this House is well acquainted with the
general sense of their constituents in this raatter ; and
we can now assure you, that the continuance of the
chief justice in his place wiU increase the uneasiness
of the people without doors, and endanger the pubhc
tranquiUity. We therefore earnestly entreat your Ex
ceUency, that, while we are in this instance eraploying
the powers with which we are intrusted in promoting
the tranquillity and good order of governraent, 'we
may,' agreeably to your declaration in your speech to
both Houses, 'find that you are ready to give your
consent to a request of the House intended for that
and other great and important purposes ' ; and that
your ExceUency wUl iraraediately take every step for
the reraoval of the chief justice from the Superior Court."
The governor returned thera a positive denial, ac
corapanied with a curious piece of equivocation. The
House had prayed, that he would take the advice of
his Majesty's CouncU upon their petition, conformable
to the charter. To which he answers. That, though he
was by charter to act with the advice and assistance
of his CouncU, yet the summoning of the CouncU was
in his discretion. Thus was the protective provision of
the charter effectuaUy evaded.
This is a fuU and fair state of the proceedings in and
respecting the province of the Massachusetts Bay, from
the year 1762 to 1774.
The candid reader will judge what causes of dis
content have been given them, and whether they have

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 513
operated beyond their natural bounds. If they have
been particularly unquiet, they have also been particu
larly irritated and injured. Imaginmg ourselves m thefr
situation wiU, I believe, prevent us from severely cen
suring their conduct.
It is manifest, that they have constantly expressed
their complaints m petitions conceived in the most
measured language of subordination and respect. That
they have repeatedly acknowledged the supreme legis
lative authority of Parharaent. That the only instance
in which they seera to have questioned it, was in a
mere speculative dispute, purposely provoked by the
governor. That the constant subject of their com
plamts has been the having their money taken from
them without their consent ; the substituting a depend
ent judge, bribed by being paid out of the forfeitures,
to deterraine in all causes of revenue, by the rules of
the civU law, and without a jury ; and the violation of
their security in the due adrainistration of government
and of justice, by rendering the governor and judges
totally dependent on the crown. That thefr wish has
been to return to the state in which they were before
the passing these laws and sending these instructions,
and not to become independent of Great Britain. This
appears, not only from their repeated and authentic
declarations, but from Govemor Hutchinson's letters.
"The enemies of government" (so is he pleased to
style the Council, the House of Representatives, and
the people,) " gave out, that their friends in ParUament
were increasing, and aU things would be soon on the
old footmg ; in other words, that aU acts imposing du
ties would be repealed, the Commissioners' Board dis
solved, the customs put on their old footing, and ilUcit
trade be carried on with httie or no hazard." The
malignity of this reflection upon the people, wiU plainly
VOL. IV. 65

614 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
appear frora the foUowing declaration of Governor Ber
nard, whose testimony in their favor wiU hardly be
questioned. "I do not pretend," says he, "that this
province is entirely free from the breach of those laws "
(of trade), " but only that such breach, if discovered, is
surely punished." What raore can be said of the best
country upon earth? Yet Govemor Hutchinson does
not scruple to charge them with having been all smug
glers, and to throw an odiura upon their struggling for
their rights by the iraputation of their sole object being
to renew that iUicit trade with impunity.
It raust also appear from thefr proceedings, that
their great crime has been their constancy m petitioning
for redress of grievances; which has been attempted
to be repressed, even by the most unjustifiable means
of refusing them an agent to vindicate them when
misrepresented, and support their complaints. WhUe
this common right of justice is denied them, persons are
notoriously hired here to load thera in the pubhc papers
with every species of opprobrium, falsehood, and abuse.
There are two things which deserve the most particular
attention. First, That whenever affidavits were taken
on the part of the people, they were taken in pubhc,
with summonses to aU persons concemed to attend, and
cross-examine the witnesses ; on the contrary, those
which were obtained by the governor and comraission
ers, accusing the people, were raade in secret, the per
sons accused unapprized and totally ignorant of the
proceedings, they were transmkted in secret, and the
injured persons, by mere accidents, and after they had
operated to their hurt, had an opportunity of seeing
and refuting them. The instances on both sides wUl
be found in the affidavits taken on the seizure of the
sloop Liberty, and the riot, and in Mr. Oliver's affida
vit, and the narrative of the town, respecting the mas
sacre on the 5th of March. Secondly, That the chief

PROCEEDINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 515
and almost only continual witnesses against the people
are the Governors Bernard and Hutchinson ; the former
of whom has long labored under an accusation upon
oath of gross corruption in his office ; the latter has
been detected in the basest plot against thefr liberties ;
and both are at open enraity with the people, having
been petitioned against by their representatives, as uni
versally odious. How far the representations of men
so circumstanced can be presumed fair and hnpartial,
or deserve credit, raust be left to the candid to deter
mine. We have seen thefr petitions either mtercepted, or
treated with a contemptuous silence, or answered with
the severest censures. Seven years' suppUcation has
brought no reUef. And now, to fiU up the measure of
their misfortunes, their port is stopped up, thefr charter
is to be subverted, and a lawless army let loose upon
them. They have been tried, condemned, and pun
ished, unheard and unapprized of the whole proceed
ing. They ai*e left to weep over their apprehensions,
reaUzed hi the utter subversion of their Uberties. This
accumulation of calamities is heaped upon them, be
cause high and sti'ong resentments, as they naturally
must, have foUowed severe and reiterated injuries ;
because discontent has arisen from disappointed and
despised complaints, and violence from insulted discon
tent. Whoever wUl take the ti-ouble of reading, hi the his
tory of this most meritorious and unhappy people, the
unparaUeled hardships with which they purchased those
liberties we have now tom from them, and view the
deplorable, the desperate situation to which they are
now reduced ; however obdurate, however prejudiced
he may be, he must thmk, at least, one human tear
may drop, and be forgiven.

LETTERS TO DEAN TUCKER.

The Reverend Josiah Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, was a man
of learning and talents, but somewhat wayward in his temper, and
far from conciliatory in the tone of his writings. He is said to
have been faithful in the discharge of his parochial duties, and to
have published some creditable treatises on theology ; but his
thoughts and studies were chiefly turned to political and commer
cial subjects, upon which he wrote several tracts. It was for this
reason that Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester, who was not on the
best terms with his Dean, used to say, that " the Dean's trade
was religion, and religion his trade." In a letter to Dr. Hurd, he
likewise said ; " I have not seen the Dean since his return ; and
hope I shall not, till the ebullition of his German ferment be well
over," alluding to some tract of his on naturalization, in which
he supported with zeal a scheme for the settling of Germans in
England. He published several pamphlets on the colonial controversy, in
which it was allowed that the general principles of trade, and the
commercial interests of Great Britain, were discussed with ability.
He had a plan peculiar to himself, which he took great pains to
enforce. It is thus described in his own words, namely ; " To
separate totally from the colonies, and to reject them from being
fellow members and joint partakers with us in the privileges and
advantages of the British empire, because they refuse to submit to
the authority and jurisdiction of the British legislature.'' This
project he defended with great pertinacity, notwithstanding the rid
icule it drew upon him from various quarters, and the violence with
which it was attacked through the press, and even in Parliament.
Re triumphed at last, though not in the way most pleasing to him
self; for it was not his purpose to benefit the colonies by a sepa
ration, but to relieve the mother country from what he considered
a troublesome and unworthy appendage.
Dean Tucker's plan is largely unfolded in a pamphlet, which he
published in 1775, called " An Humble Address and Earnest Ap
peal," wherein he recommends an act of Parliament, and suggests
that it should be drawn up as follows.

LETTERS TO TUCKER. 517
" Whereas raany ofthe British provinces, colonies, and plantations
in North America, after having made, from time to time, various at
tempts to throw off, or subvert the legislative authority and jurisdiction
of Great Britain, have at length proceeded to the greatest and most
daring outrages for accomplishing the same, by entering into illegal
combinations and traitorous conspiracies, and even by breaking out
into open and undisguised rebellion ; and whereas the inhabitants
in general of the said provinces, colonies, and plantations show not
the least signs of sorrow and contrition for their past offences, nor
any desire to implore the clemency of the parent state, which hath
in all instances cherished, supported, and protected them at an im
mense expense both of blood and treasure ; but, on the contrary,
continue to increase their hostile preparations for opposing, by vio
lence and force of arms, the execution of the laws made by the su
preme legislature of Parliament for the due governance and consti
tutional dependence of such subordinate states and provinces ;
" Be it, therefore, enacted by the King's most excellent Maj
esty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, spiritual
and temporal, and of the Commons of Great Britain, in Parlia
ment assembled, that every such province, colony, and plantation,
which either now is, or at the day of next ensuing,
shall be found to be in arms and rebellion against the laws and
authority of the supreme legislature of Great Britain, shall, from
and after the time above mentioned, be totally cut off, severed,
and separated from the British empire ; and that all its inhabitants
shall be declared, and are hereby declared to have lost and forfeited
all privileges and advantages, benefits and protection, both by sea
and land, belonging or supposed to belong to the subjects of Great
Britain ; and that they shall be deemed, taken, and reputed, in all
courts of law, and in all respects whatever, to be as much aliens
and foreigners, and subject to the same incapacities, as if they had
been aliens born.
" Provided, nevertheless, and to the intent, that, as lar as the nature
of the case will admit, the innocent may not be involved in the punish
ment intended only for the guilty, be it enacted by the authority
aforesaid, that it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, and for
his heirs and successors, at any time, to grant a pardon to a whole
state, province, or colony, now in rebellion, under the great seal
of the realm; or to one or more inhabitant or inhabitants thereof
under the seal manual, and to restore such colony, or such person
or persons to their former rights and privileges, as British subjects,
when it shall appear to his Majesty in Council, that such a province
VOL. IV. RR

518 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
or colony, or such a petitioner or petitioners, is, are, or shall be,
deserving of his royal clemency and favor." — Humble Address,
p. 23.
The Dean enumerates many advantages, that would result from
adopting his scheme. Among others are the following. " After
a separation from the colonies," he says, " our influence over them
will be much greater than ever it was since they began to feel their
own weight and importance ; for at present we are looked upon in
no better a light than that of robbers and usurpers ; whereas we shall
then be considered as their protectors, mediators, and benefactors.
The moment a separation takes effect, intestine quarrels will begin.
For it is well known, that the seeds of discord and dissension be
tween province and province are now ready to shoot forth ; and
that they are only kept down by the present combinations of all the
colonies against us, whom they unhappily fancy to be their common
enemy. When, therefore, this object of their hatred shall be re
moved by a declaration on our parts, that, so far frora usurping all
authority, we, from henceforward, will assume none at all against
their own consent ; the weaker provinces will entreat our protec
tion against the stronger; and the less cautious, against the more
crafty and designing. So that, in short, in proportion as their fac
tious, republican spirit shall intrigue and cabal, shall split into par
ties, divide, and subdivide, in the same proportion shall we be
called in to become their general umpires and referees." — Four
Tracts, p. 218.
However strange it may seem, and whatever indications it may
give of the state of the Dean's mind, it is nevertheless true, that
the above was a grave and serious proposition. He defended it
courageously against all his opponents. In some of his pamphlets on
the affairs of the colonies, he attacked Dr. Franklin in an unjusti
fiable manner, propagating erroneous and illiberal reports, which
gave rise to the following correspondence. — Editor.

TO JOSIAH TUCKER. London, February 12th, 1774.

Reverend Sir,
Being inforraed by a friend, that some severe stric
tures on my conduct and character had appeared in a

LETTERS TO TUCKER. 519
new book published under your respectable name, I
purchased and read it. After thanking you for those
parts of it that are so instructive on points of great
importance to the common interest of mankind, permit
me to complain, that, if by the description you give in
pages 180, 181, of a certain American patriot, whom
you say you need not name, you do, as is supposed,
mean myself, nothing can be further from the truth than
your assertion, that I applied or used any interest, di
rectly or indirectly, to be appointed one of the starap
officers for America. I certainly never expressed a wish
of the kind to any person whatever ; much less was I,
as you say, " more than ordinarily assiduous on this
head." I have heretofore seen in the newspapers in
sinuations of the same iraport, naraing rae expressly;
but, being without the name of the writer, I took no
notice of them.
I know not whether they were yours, or were only
your authority for your present charge ; but now they
have the weight of your name and dignified character,
I ara raore sensible of the injury ; and I beg leave to
request, that you wiU reconsider the grounds on which
you have ventured to pubUsh an accusation, that, if be
lieved, raust prejudice me extremely in the opinion of
good men, especially in my own country, whence I
was sent expressly to oppose the imposition of that tax.
If on such reconsideration and inquiry you find, as I
am persuaded you will, that you have been imposed
upon by false reports, or have too lightly given credit
to hearsays in a matter that concerns another's reputa
tion, I flatter myself that your equity wiU induce you
to do me justice, by retracting that accusation. In
confidence of this, I ara, with great esteera. Reverend
Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
B. Frawkliit

520 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
TO BEWJAMIN FEAJfKLIW.
Monday, February aist, 1774.
Sir,
The letter which you did me the honor to send to
Gloucester, I have just received in London, where I have
resided many weeks, and am now returning to Glou
cester. On inquiry, I find that I was raistaken in some
circumstances relating to your conduct about the Stamp
Act, though right as to the substance. These errors
shaU be rectified the first opportunity. After having
assured you, that I am no dealer in anonymous news
paper paragraphs, nor have a connexion with any who
are, I have the honor to be. Sir, your hurable servant,
J. Tucker.
TO JOSIAH TUCKEK.
[Tuesday, February 22(3, 1774.]
Reverend Sir,
I received your favor of yesterday. If the substance
of what you have charged rae with is right, I can have
but httie concern about any mistakes in the circum
stances ; whether they are rectified or not, wiU be
immaterial. But, knowing the substance to be wrong,
and believing that you can have no desire of continu
ing in an error, prejudicial to any man's reputation, I
am persuaded you wiU not take it araiss, if I request
you to coraraunicate to rae the particulars of the infor
mation you have received, that I may have an oppor
tunity of examining thera ; and I flatter rayself I shaU
be able to satisfy you that they are groundless. I pro
pose this method as more decent than a public alter
cation, and suiting better the respect due to your char-

LETTERS TO TUCKER. 621
acter. With great regard, I have the honor to be.
Reverend Sir, your most obedient humble servant,
B. Franklin.
TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
Gloucester, February 24th, 1774.
Sir,
The request .made in your last letter is so very just
and reasonable, that I shaU coraply with it very readily.
It has long appeared to rae, that you rauch exceeded
the bounds of inoraUty in the methods you pursued for
the advancement of the supposed interests of America.
If it can be proved, that I have unjustly suspected you,
I shaU acknowledge ray error with as rauch satisfaction
as you can have in reading my recantation of it. As
to the case more imraediately referred to in your letters,
I was repeatedly informed, that you had solicited the
late Mr. George GrenviUe for a place or agency in the
distribution of staraps in Araerica. From which cir
cumstance I rayself concluded, that you had raade in
terest for it on your own account ; whereas I ara now
inforraed, there are no positive proofs of your having
sohcited to obtain such a place for yourself, but that
there is sufficient evidence stUl existing of your hav
ing appUed for it in favor of another person. If this
latter should prove to be the fact, as I ara assured it
wiU, I am wiUing to suppose, from several expressions
in both your letters, that you wUl readily acknowledge
that the difference in this case between yourself and
your friend, is very immaterial to the general merits of
the question. But, if you should have distinctions in
this case, which are above my comprehension, I shaU
content myself with observing, that your great abUities
and happy discoveries deserve universal regard; and
VOL. IV. 66 RR*

622 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
that, as on these accounts I respect and esteem you, so
I have the honor to be. Sir, your very hurable servant,
J. Tucker.
TO JOSIAH tucker.
London, February 2Cth, 1774
Reverend Sir,
I thank you for the frankness with which you have
coramunicated to rae the particulars of the inforraation
you had received, relating to ray supposed application
to Mr. GrenviUe for a place in the American stamp-
office. As I deny that either your former or latter in
forraations are true, it seems incurabent on me, for your
satisfaction, to relate aU the circurastances fairly to you,
that could possibly give rise to such mistakes.
Some days after the Stamp Act was passed, to which
I had given all the opposition I could, with Mr. Gren
ville, I received a note from Mr. Whately, his secretary,
desiring to see me the next moming. I waited upon
him accordingly, and found with him several other colo
ny agents. He acquainted us, that Mr. GrenviUe was
desirous to raake the execution of the act as httie in
convenient and disagreeable to America as possible;
and therefore did not think of sendmg stamp officers
from this country, but wished to have discreet and rep
utable persons appointed in each province from araong
the inhabitants, such as would be acceptable to them ;
for, as they were to pay the tax, he thought strangers
should not have the emolument. Mr. Whately there
fore wished us to narae for our respective colonies, m-
forming us, that Mr. GrenviUe would be obUged to us
for pointing out to him honest and responsible men, and
would pay great regard to our nominations. By this
plausible and apparently candid declaration, we were

LETTERS TO TUCKER. 623
drawn in to nominate ; and I named for our province
Mr. Hughes, saying, at the same time, that I knew not
whether he would accept of it, but, if he did, I was
sure he would execute the office faithfully. I soon
after had notice of his appointment. We none of us,
I beUeve, foresaw or iraagined, that this comphance
with the request of the minister would or could have
been caUed an application of ours, and adduced as
a proof of our approbation of the act we had been op
posing ; otherwise I think few of us would have naraed
at aU ; I am sure I should not. This, I assure you,
and can prove to you by Uving evidence, is a tme
account of the transaction in question, which, if you
compare with that you have been induced to give of
it in your book, I am persuaded you wiU see a differ
ence that is far from being "a distinction above your
comprehension." Permit me further to remark, that your expression of
there being "no positive proofs of my having sohcited
to obtain such a place for myself," implies that there
are nevertheless some circumstantial proofs sufficient at
least to support a suspicion. The latter part however
of the same sentence, which says, " there is sufficient
evidence stiU existing of my having applied for it in
favor of another person," must, I apprehend, if credited,
destroy that suspicion, and be considered as positive
proof of the contrary; for, if I had interest enough
with Mr. GrenviUe to obtain that place for another, is it
likely that it would have been refused me, had I asked
it for myself?
There is another circumstance, which I would offer
to your candid consideration. You describe me as
" changing sides, and appearing at the bar of the House
of Comraons to cry down the very measure I had
espoused, and direct the storm that was faUing upon

524 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
that rainister." As this raust have been after my sup
posed solicitation of the favor for myself or ray friend,
and Mr. GrenviUe and Mr. Whately were both in the
House at the time, and both asked me questions, can
it be conceived, that, offended as they must have been
with such a conduct in rae, neither of them should put
me in mind of this my sudden changing of sides, or
remark it to the House, or reproach me with it, or re
quire my reasons for it? And yet all the members
then present know, that not a syUable of the kind feU
from either of them, or frora any of thefr party.
I persuade myself by this tirae you begin to suspect
you may have been misled by your informers. I do
not ask who they are, because I do not wish to have
particular motives for disliking people, who in general
may deserve my respect. They too may have drawn
consequences beyond the inforraation they received from
others, and, hearing the office had been given to a per
son of ray noraination, raight as naturally suppose I had
solicited it, as Dr. Tucker, hearing that I had solicited
it, might "co7iclude" it was for myself.
I desire you to believe, that I take kindly, as I ought,
your freely mentioning to me " that it has long appeared
to you, that I rauch exceeded the bounds of moraUty
in the raethods I pursued for the advancement of the
supposed interests of America." I am sensible there
is a good deal of truth in the adage, that our sins and
our debts are cdways more than we take them to be ;
and though I cannot at present, on examination of my
conscience, charge rayself with any iraraoraUty of that
kmd, it becomes rae to suspect, that what has long ap
peared to you raay have sorae foundation. You are so
good as to add, that, " if it can be proved you have un
justly suspected me, you shaU have a satisfaction in
acknowledging the error." It is often a thing hard to

LETTERS TO TUCKER. 525
prove that suspicions are unjust, even when we knovvr
what they are ; and harder, when we are unacquainted
whh them. I must presurae, therefore, that, in raen
tioning thera, you had an intention of communicating
the grounds of them to me, if I should request it, whicli
I now do, and, I assure you, with a sincere desire and
design of araending what you may show rae to have
been wrong in my conduct, and to thank you for the
admonition. In your writings I appear a bad man ; but,
if I am such, and you can thus help me to become in
reality a good one, I shaU esteem it raore than a suf
ficient reparation to. Reverend Sir, your most obedient
humble servant,
B. Franklin.*

* A memorandum was found appended to the rough draft of this
letter, in the handwriting of the author, dated February 7th, 1775, in
which he said ; " No answer has yet been received." In a future
edition of his work, however. Dean Tucker omitted the offensive pas
sages, but with so ill a grace as almost to take away the little merit
therewas in rendering so obvious an act of justice. The circumstance
is mentioned by him in the preface to a tract, entitled, " A Series of Anr
swers to Certain Popular Objections," published in 1776.
" In the first and second editions of my Fourth Tract," he says, " un
happily for me, I had charged him with procuring a place for himself in
the American stamp-office; whereas, alas! it proved tobe not for him
self, but for his friend. And, as a poor culprit was thus detected in an
offence of so heinous a nature against the eternal truth and rectitude
of things, great were the exultations of the Doctor and his patriotic
fiiends. Reader, I plead guilty to the indictment ; habes corifiteniem reum.
Therefore I will lay Dr. Frankhn's own state of the case before you ;
and this the rather, because his repubUcan agents and abettors, the
Monthly Reviewers, have dared me to publish his own account;
hoping, I suppose, that I had mislaid my voucher."
The Dean then proceeds to make a short extract from Dr. Franklin's
letter, instead of publishing the whole; which extract he endeavours
to turn to the author's disadvantage. Although the Dean confessed
himself in fault, yet, in this pretended reparation, his conduct is so in
direct and disingenuous, that nothing can be claimed for him on the score
of fairness or magnanimity. — Editor.

ON
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
OF THE
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN
AND HER AMERICAN COLONIES.

The following papers, first printed in the Public Advertiser in
London, are supposed by William Temple Franklin to have been
written about the time of the author's departure for America ; but
their precise dates have not been ascertained. — Editor.

TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER.
Sir,
The enclosed paper was written just before Lord
HiUsborough quitted the American department. An
expectation then prevaUing, from the good character of
the noble Lord who succeeded him, that the grievances
of the colonies would, under his administration, be re
dressed, it was laid aside ; but, as not a single measure
of his predecessor has since been even attempted to
be changed, and on the contrary new ones have been
continuaUy added, farther to exasperate, render them
desperate, and drive them, if possible, into open rebel
Uon, it may not be amiss now to give it to the pubhc,
as it shows in detaU the rise and progress of those dif
ferences, which are about to break the empfre in pieces.
I am. Sir, yours, &,c.,
A. P.

COLONIAL DIFFERENCES. 527
Sir,
It is a bad teraper of. raind that takes a deUght in
opposition, and is ever ready to censure rainistry in the
gross, without discrimination. Charity should be wU-
hng to believe, that we never had an adrainistration so
bad, but there might be some good and some wise men
in it ; and that even such is our case at present. The
Scripture saith, " By their works shaU ye know them."
By their conduct, then, in their respective departments,
and not by their company or thefr party connexions,
should they be distinctly and separately judged.
One of the most serious affairs to this nation, that
has of late required the attention of governraent, is our
misunderstanding with the colonies. They are m the
departraent of Lord HiUsborough, and, frora a prevaUing
opinion of his abiUties, have been left by the other
ministers very much to his manageraent. If, then, our
American business has been conducted with prudence,
to him chiefly will be due the reputation of it.
Soon after the late war, it became an object with
the ministers of this country to draw a revenue from
America. The first attempt was by a Stamp Act. It
soon appeared, that this step had not been weU con
sidered ; that the rights, the abUity, the opinions and
temper of that great people had not been sufficiently
attended to. They complained, that the tax was un
necessary, because their AssembUes had ever been
ready to make voluntary grants to the crown in pro
portion to their abiUties, when duly required so to do ;
and unjust, because they had no representative in the
British Parliament, but had Parliaments of their own,
wherein their consent was given, as it ought to be, m
grants of their own money. I do not mean to enter
into this question. The Parliamen'. repealed the act
as inexpedient, but in another act asserted a right of

528 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
taxing America ; and in the foUowing year laid duties
on the manufactures of this country exported thither.
On the repeal of the Starap Act, the Americans had
returned to their wonted good-humor and coraraerce
with Great Britain ; but this new act for laying duties
renewed their uneasiness. They were long since for
bidden by the Navigation Act to purchase raanufactures
of any other nation ; and, supposing that act weU en
forced, they saw, that by this indirect raode it was in
the power of Great Britain to burden thera as rauch as
by any direct tax, unless they could lay aside the use
of such raanufactures as they had been accustoraed to
purchase from Britain, or make the sarae themselves.
In this situation were affairs, when ray Lord HiUs
borough entered on the American administration. Much
was expected from his supposed abiUties, appUcation,
and knowledge of business in that department. The
newspapers were fiUed with his panegyrics, and expec
tations raised perhaps inconveniently.
The Americans determined to petition thefr sove
reign, praying his gracious interposition in their favor
with his ParUament, that the imposhion of these duties,
which they considered as an infringement of their rights,
might be repealed. The Asserably of the Massachusetts
Bay had voted that it should be proposed to the other
colonies to concur in that raeasure. This, for what
reason I do not easily conceive, gave great offence to
his Lordship ; and one of his first steps was to prevent
these concurring pethions. To this end, he sent a
mandate to that Assembly (the ParUament of that coun
try), requfring thera to rescind that vote, and desist
frora the measure, threatening them with dissolution in
case of disobedience. The governor communicated to
thera the instructions he received to that purpose. They
refused to obey, and were dissolved! SimUar orders

COLONIAL DIFFERENCES. 529
were sent at the same time to the governors of the
other colonies, to dissolve their respective ParUaments
if they presuraed to accede to the Boston proposition
of petitioning his Majesty, and several of them were
accordingly dissolved.
Bad rainisters have ever been averse to the right
subjects claira of petitioning and remonstrating to thefr
sovereign ; for through that channel the prince raay be
apprized of the mal-administration of his servants ; they
may sometimes be thereby brought into danger; at
least such petitions afford a handle to their adversaries,
whereby to give them trouble. But, as the measure to
be coraplained of was not his Lordship's, it is rather
extraordinary that he should thus set his face against
the intended complaints. In his angry letters to Amer
ica, he called the proposal of these petitions "a meas
ure of most dangerous and factious tendency, calcu
lated to inflame the minds of his Majesty's subjects
in the colonies, to promote an unwarrantable combina
tion, and to excite and encourage an open opposition to,
and denial of, the authority of the Parliament, and to
subvert the true spirit of the constitution ; " and di
rected the govemors, immediately on the receipt of
these orders, to exert their utraost influence to defeat
this flagitious attempt.
Without entering into the particular motives to this
piece of his Lordship's conduct, let us consider a httle
the wisdom of it. When subjects conceive themselves
oppressed or injured, laying their complaints before the
sovereign, or the governing powers, is a Idnd of vent
to griefs that gives some ease to thefr minds ; the re
ceiving with at least an appearance of regard thefr peti
tions, and taking them into consideration, gives present
hope, and affords time for the cooUng of resentment;
so that even the refusal, when decently expressed and
VOL. IV. 67 ss

630 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
accompanied with reasons, is made less unpleasant by
the manner, is half approved, and the rest submitted to
with patience. But when this vent to popular discon
tents is denied, and the subjects are thereby driven to
desperation, infinite raischiefs foUow. Many princes
have lost partj and sorae the whole of their dorainions,
and sorae their Uves, by this very conduct of their ser
vants. The Secretary for Araerica, therefore, seems in
this instance not to have judged rightly for the ser
vice of his excellent master.
But supposing the measure of discouraging and pre-
ismting petitions a right one, were the means of effect
ing this end judiciously chosen ? I mean, the threat
ening with dissolution and the actual dissolving of the
American Parliaments. His Lordship probably took up
the idea from what he knows of the state of things in
England and Ireland, where, to be re-chosen upon a
dissolution, often gives a candidate great trouble, and
sometimes costs him a great deal of raoney. A disso
lution raay therefore be both fine and punishment to
the merabers, if they desire to be again returned. But,
in raost of the colonies, there is no such thing as stand
ing candidate for election. There is neither treating
nor bribing. No raan even expresses the least incUna
tion to be chosen. ' Instead of humble advertisements,
entreating votes and interest, you see, before every new
election, requests of forraer members, acknowledging
the honor done thera by preceding elections, but set
ting forth their long service and attendance on the pub
hc business in that station, and praying that, in consid
eration thereof, some other person may be chosen in
their room.
Where this is the case, where the same representa
tives may be, and generally are, after a dissolution,
chosen, without asking a vote or giving even a glass

COLONIAL DIFFERENCES. 531
of cider to an elector, is it Ukely that such a threat could
contribute in the least to answer the end proposed?
The experience of former governors might have in
stmcted hii Lordship, that this was a vain expedient.
Several of them, misled by thefr EngUsh ideas, had
tried this practice to make Assemblies submissive to
thefr measures, but never with success. By the influ
ence of his power in granting offices, a governor natu
rally has a number of friends in an Asserably; these,
if suffered to continue, though a minority, might fre
quently serve his purposes, by promoting what he
wishes, or obstructing what he dishkes. But 'if, to
punish the majority, he in a pet dissolves the House,
and orders a new election, he is sure not to see a sin
gle friend in the new Assembly. The people are put
into an Ul humor by the trouble given them, they re
sent the dissolution as an affront, and leave out every
man suspected of having the least regard for the gov
emor. This was the very effect of my Lord's disso
lutions in America, and the new Assemblies were aU
found more untractable than the old ones.
But besides the imprudence of this measure, was it
constitutional ? The crown has doubtless the preroga
tive of dissolving Parhaments, a prerogative lodged in
its hands for the pubhc good, which may in various
instances require the use of it. But should a king of
Great Britain demand of his Parliament the rescission
of any vote they had passed, or forbid them to petition
the throne, on pain of dissolution, and actuaUy dissolve
them accordingly, I humbly conceive the minister who
advised it would run some hazard of censure at least,
for thus using the prerogative to the violation of common
right, and breach of the constitution. The American
AssembUes have no means of impeaching such a min
ister; but there is an Assembly, the ParUament of

532 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
England, that has that power, and in a former instance
exercised it well, by impeaching a great man, Lord
Clarendon, for having, though in one instance only, en
deavoured to introduce arbitrary governmekt into the
colonies. The effect this operation of the American Secretary
had in America, was not a prevention of those petitions,
as he intended, but a despair in the people of any suc
cess from them, since they could not pass to the throne
but through the hands of one, who showed himself so
extremely averse to the existence of them. Thence
aro^the design of interesting the British merchants
and manufacturers in the event of thefr petitions, by
agreements not to import goods from Great Britain tti
thefr grievances were redressed. Universal resentment
occasioned these agreements to be more generaUy en
tered into, and the sending of troops to Boston, who
daily insulted the Assembly * and townsmen, instead of
terrifying into a compliance with his measures, served
only to exasperate and sour the minds of the people
throughout the contment, make frugaUty fashionable,
when the consumption of British goods was the ques
tion, and deterraine the inhabitants to exert every nerve
in estabUshing manufactures among themselves.
Boston having grievously offended his Lordship, by
the refractory spirit they had shown in re-choosing those
representatives, whom he esteemed the leadera of the
opposition there, he resolved to punish that town by
removing the Assembly from thence to Cambridge, a
country place about four miles distant. Here too his
Lordship's EngUsh and Irish ideas seem to have misled
him. Removing a Parliament from London or DubUn,
* They mounted a numerous guard daily round the Parliament-
House, with drums beating and fifes playing, while the members were
in their debates, and had cannon planted and pointed at the buildmg.

COLONIAL DIFFERENCES. 533
where so many of the inhabitants are supportedlby the
expense of such a nuraber of wealthy Lords and Com
moners, and have a dependence on that support, may
be a consid?erable prejudice to a city deprived of such
advantage ; but the removal of the Assembly, consist
ing of frugal, honest farmers, from Boston, could only
affect the interest of a few poor widows, who kept
lodging-houses there. Whatever manufactures the
merabers might want, were stiU purchased at Boston.
They themselves indeed suffered some inconvenience,
in being perhaps less commodiously lodged, and being
at a distance from the records ; but this, and the keep
ing them before so long prorogued, when the pubhc
affairs requfred their meeting, could never reconcile
them to ministerial measures ; it could serve only to
put them more out of humor with Britain and its gov
ernment so wantonly exercised, and to so Uttle purpose.
Ignorance alone of the true state of that country can
excuse (if it may be excused) these frivolous pro
ceedings. To have good ends in view, and to use proper means
to obtain thera, shows the minister to be both good and
wise. To pursue good ends by improper means argues
hira, though good, to be but weak. To pursue bad
ends, by artful means, shows hira to be wicked, though
able. But when his ends are bad, and the means he
uses improper to obtain these ends, what shaU we say
of such a minister ? Every step taken for sorae tirae
past in our treatment of America, the suspending thefr
legislative powers for not making laws by direction
from hence ; the countenancing their adversaries by
rewards and pensions, paid out of the revenues ex
torted from them by laws to which they have not
given their assent ; the sending over a set of rash, in
discreet commissioners to coUect that revenue, who by
ss*

534 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
insolence of behaviour, harassing commerce, and per
petually accusing the good people (out of whose sub
stance they are supported) to govemment here, as
rebels and traitors, have made themselves universaUy
odious there, but here are caressed and encouraged ;
together with the arbitrary dissolution of AsserabUes,
and the quartering troops araong the people, to men
ace and insult thera ; aU these steps, if intended to
provoke them to rebeUion, that we might take their
Uves and confiscate their estates, are proper means to
obtain a bad end. But, if they are intended to con-
ciUate the Araericans to our govemment, restore our
commerce with thera, and secure the friendship and
assistance which their growing strength, wealth, and
power raay, in a few years, render extreraely valuable
to us, can any thing be conceived more injudicious,
more absurd ! His Lordship may have in general a
good understanding ; his friends say he has ; but in
the political part of it, there must surely be sorae tioist,
sorae extrerae obliquity.
A Well-wisher io the JCing and all his Dominions.
to the printer of the public advertiser.
Sir,
Your correspondent Britannicus inveighs violently
against Dr. Franklin, for his ingratitude to the ministry
of this nation, who have conferred upon him so many
favors. They gave him the post-office of America;
they made his son a governor ; and they offered him
a post of five hundred a year in the salt-office, if he
would relinquish the interests of his country ; but he
has had the wickedness to continue true to it, and is
as much an American as ever. As it is a settied
point in government here, that every man has his price,

COLONIAL DIFFERENCES. 535
•
it is plain they are bunglers in their business, and have
not given him enough. Thefr master has as much rea
son to be angry with them, as Rodrigue in the play
with his apothecary, for not effectually poisoning Pan-
dolpho, and they must probably raake use of the apoth
ecary's justification, viz.
• Scene IV. Rodrigue and Fell, the Apothecary.
"Rodrigue. You proraised to have this Pandolpho
upon his bier in less than a week ; 't is more than a
month since, and he stiUs walks and stares me in the
face. " Fell. True ; and yet I have done ray best endeav
ours. In various ways I have given the miscreant as
much poison as would have killed an elephant. He
has swaUowed dose after dose; far from hurting him,
he seeras the better for it. He hath a wonderfully
strong constitution. I find I cannot kiU hira but by
cutting his throat, and that, as I take it, is not my
business. "Rodrigue. Then it must be mine."
to the printer of the public advertiser.
Sir,
Nothing can equal the present rage of our ministe
rial writers against our brethren in America, who have
the misfortune to be whigs in a reign when whiggism
is out of fashion, who are besides Protestant Dissenters
and lovers of liberty. One raay easily see from what
quarter comes the abuse of those people in the papers;
their struggle for thefr rights is caUed rebellion, and
the people rebels; whUe those who really rebeUed
m Scotland (1745) for the expulsion of the present
reigning family, and the estabhshment of Popery and

636 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
arbitrary power, on the ruins of liberty and Protestan
tisra, who entered England and marched on as far as
Derby, to the astonishment of this great city, and, shak
ing the public credit of the nation, have now all thefr
sins forgiven on account of their modish principles, and
are called, not rebels, but by the softer appeUation of
insurgents !
These angry writers use their utmost efforts to per
suade us, that this war with the colonies (for a war it
wiU be) is a national cause, when in fact it is raerely a
ministerial one. Administration wants an Araerican rev
enue to dissipate in corruption. The quarrel is about
a paltry three-penny duty on tea. There is no real
clashing of interests between Britain and America.
Their commerce is to their mutual advantage, or rather
most to the advantage of Britain, which finds a vast
market in Araerica for its manufactures ; and as good
pay, I speak from knowledge, as in any country she
trades to upon the face of the globe. But the fact
needs not ray testiraony; it speaks for itself; for if
we could elsewhere get better pay and better prices,
we should not send our goods to America.
The gross calumniators of that people, who want us
to imbrue our hands in brothers' blood, have the effron
tery to tell the world, that the Araericans associated in
resolutions not to pay us what they owed us, unless we
repealed the Stamp Act. This is an infamous false
hood ; they know it to be such. I caU upon the
incendiaries, who have advanced it, to produce thefr
proofs. Let them name any two that entered into
such an association, or any one that raade such a
declaration. Absurdity raarks the very face of this lie.
Every one acquainted with trade knows, that a cred
ited raerchant, daring to be concerned in such an asso
ciation, could never e? pect to be trusted again. His

COLONIAL DIFFERENCES. 637
character on the Exchange of London would be ruined
for ever. The great credit given them since that time,
nay, the present debt due fi'om them, is itself a proof of
the confidence we have in thefr probity.
Another viUanous falsehood advanced against the
Americans is, that, though we have been at such ex
pense in protectmg thera, they refuse to contribute
their part to the pubhc general expense of the empire.
The fact is, that they never did refuse a requisition of
that kind. A writer, who calls himself Sagittarius (I
suppose from his flinging about, hke Solomon's fool, fire
brands, arrows, and death), in the Ledger of March 9th,
asserts, that the "experiment has been tried, and that
they did not think it expedient to return even an an
swer." How does he prove this 1 Why, " the colony
agents were told by Mr. GrenvUle, that a revenue would
be required from them to defray the expenses ol thefr
protection." But was the requisition ever made?
Were circular letters ever sent, by his Majesty's com
mand, from the Secretary of State to the several colony
governments, according to the estabhshed custom, stat
ing the occasion and requfring such suppUes as were
suitable to their abUities and loyalty 1 And did they
then refuse, not only compUance, but an answer? No
such matter ; agents are not the channel through which
requisitions are made. If they were told by Mr. Gren
vUle, that "a revenue would be required, and yet the
colonies made no offer, no grant, nor laid any tax,"
does it foUow they would not have done it, if they had
been requfred ? Probably they thought it time enough
when the requisition should come, and in fact it never
appeared there to this day. In the last war they aU
gave so UberaUy, that we thought ourselves bound in
honor to retum them a mUlion. But we are disgusted
with thefr free gifts ; we want to have something that
VOL. IV. 68

538 FRANKLIN'S WRITINGS.
is obtained by force, like a mad landlord who should
refuse the wUIing payment of his fuU rents, and choose
to take less by way of robbery.
This shameless writer would cajole the people of
England with the fancy of their being kings of Amer
ica, and that thefr honor is at stake by the Americans
disputing their governraent. He thrusts us into the
throne cheek-by-jole with Majesty, and would have us
talk, as he writes, of our subjects in America, and our
sovereignty over Araerica; forgetting that the Amer
icans are subjects of the King, not our subjects, but
our fellow subjects ; and that tKey have ParUaments of
their own, with the right of granting their own money
by their own representatives, which we cannot deprive
them of but by violence and injustice.
Having by a series of iniquitous and frritating meas
ures provoked a loyal people almost to desperation, we
now magnify every act of an American mob hito re
bellion, though the government there disapprove it
and order prosecution, as is now the case with regard
to the tea destroyed. And we talk of nothmg but
troops and fleets, and force, of blocking up ports, de
stroying fisheries, aboUshing charters, &,c. &c. Here
mobs of Enghsh sawyers can burn saw-miUs ; mobs
of EngUsh laborers destroy or plunder magazines of
corn ; mobs of EngUsh coal-heavers attack houses with
firearms; English smugglers can fight regularly the
King's cruising vessels, drive them ashore, and burn
them, as lately on the coast of Wales, and on the coast
of CornwaU; but upon these accounts we hear no
talk of England's being in rebellion ; no threats of tak
ing away its Magna Charta, or repealing its BiU of
Rights; for we weU know, that the operations of a
mob are often unexpected, sudden, and soon over, so
that the civU power can seldom prevent or suppress

COLONIAL DIFFERENCES. 539
them, not being able to come m before they have dis
persed themselves ; and therefore it is not always ac
countable for their mischiefs.
Surely the great commerce of this nation with the
Americans is of too much importance to be risked in a
quarrel, which has no foundation but ministerial pique
and obstinacy !
To us in the way of trade comes now, and has long
come, aU the super-lucration arising from thefr labors.
But wiU our revUing them as cheats, hypocrites, scoun
drels, traitors, cowards, tyrants, &c. &.C., according to
the present court mode in all our papers, make them
more our friends, more fond of our merchandise ? Did
ever any tradesman succeed, who attempted to drub
customers into his shop ? And wiU honest John Bull,
the farmer, be long satisfied with servants, that before
his face attempt to kiU his plough-horses?
A Londoner.

END of vol. IV.

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