"P.S. I have scratched out the loving words, being writ in haste by mistake, when I forgot I was angry."

On reaching home, he found there his erratic nephew, Ben. Mecom, who had just arrived from Antigua, and was resolved to set up in Boston. The young gentleman having honorably repaid his uncle what he had formerly advanced, Franklin again lent him a little capital in money, and a great capital in credit upon booksellers in London, to the great joy and thankfulness of the lad's mother.

It was at the regular December session of the Assembly, 1756, that the dispute with the governor reached a crisis, the patience of the Assembly, long tried, being at last exhausted. The treasury was empty. The frontiers were ill-protected. The enemy was more audacious than ever. Never had there been such need of united and energetic effort. The patriotic Assembly, feeling for the sore distress of the outlying settlements, and longing to do their part for king and country, resolved to raise money by an excise upon wine, beer, and spirituous liquors, and thus avoid the taxing of the Penn estate. Accordingly they sent up to the governor an act, entitled, "An act for striking the sum of sixty thousand pounds in bills of credit, and giving the same to the king's use, and for providing a fund to sink the bills so to be emitted, by laying an excise upon wine, rum, brandy, and other spirits." The excise was to continue twenty years.

This bill the Assembly had reason to suppose unobjectionable, since its passage involved no principle heretofore contested. The governor, however, refused his assent. His instructions, he said, forbade his passing such a bill. The amount of money was too great; the term of twenty years was too long; and various minor details of the bill were not what they should be. There were conferences between the governor and a committee of the House, but all attempts at accommodation were frustrated by the inexorable instructions. If the committee demonstrated the absolute necessity of a clause of the bill, the governor could only reply that his instructions expressly and positively forbade it. At length the bill was returned to the House, with a message of ten lines, in which the governor declared that "he would not give his consent to it, and there being no person to judge between the governor and the House in these parts, he would immediately transmit to his Majesty his reasons for so doing."

At the receipt of this haughty and peremptory message, the Assembly seemed to have been stunned. The remainder of the day, William Franklin records, was wasted in vain discussion of the difficulties they were involved in; for the House broke up without coming to any resolution. The next was a blank likewise; no business was done; but, on the third, having resumed the consideration of the governor's objections to the bill, they passed a series of resolutions, solemnly protesting against the veto, but concluding with this: "The House, therefore, reserving their rights in their full extent on all future occasions, and protesting against the proprietary instructions and prohibitions, do, nevertheless, in duty to the king and compassion for the suffering inhabitants of their distressed country, and in humble but full confidence of the justice of his Majesty and a British Parliament, waive their rights on this present occasion only; and do further resolve, that a new bill be brought in for granting a sum of money to the king's use, and that the same be made conformable to the said instructions."

As soon as this urgent business had been disposed of, the House resolved to follow the example of the Governor, and appeal to the king. "It was highly necessary," ran the resolution, "that a remonstrance should be drawn up and sent home, setting forth the true state of Pennsylvania, and representing the pernicious consequences to the British interest, and to the inhabitants of that province, if, contrary to their charters and laws, they were to be governed by proprietary instructions." But this was not all. The Assembly further resolved, that the two most honored members of their House, the Speaker, Isaac Norris, a gentleman who had grown gray in the service of the province, and Benjamin Franklin, should be requested to go to England, commissioned by the Assembly to urge and procure the redress of their grievances.

The gentlemen named were called upon to inform the House whether they would accept the trust. Mr. Norris, pleading his age and ill-health, asked to decline. Then Franklin rose, and said "that he esteemed the nomination by the House to that service as a high honor, but that he thought, if the Speaker could be prevailed on to undertake it, his long experience in public affairs, and great knowledge and abilities, would render the addition of another unnecessary; that he held himself, however, in the disposition of the House, and was ready to go whenever they should think fit to require his

service." The speaker remaining firm in his refusal, the House resolved, that "Benjamin Franklin be, and he is hereby appointed agent of this province, to solicit and transact the affairs thereof in Great Britain ;" and, a few days after, "that William Franklin have leave to resign his office of clerk of this House, that he may accompany his father, appointed one of the commissioners to negotiate our affairs in England, and that another person be chosen to serve as clerk during the absence of the said Franklin."

To defray the expenses of the voyage, and of a residence in London, the Assembly voted the sum of fifteen hundred pounds. As the commissioner expected to finish the business in a few months this provision he considered sufficient.

CHAPTER V.

TO ENGLAND.

Ir was seldom an easy matter in the olden times to get across the Atlantic when France and England were at war. Our commissioner and his son, besides the ordinary difficulties, encountered some that were unexpected and unusual. One obstacle presented itself more obstructing to any useful progress than sand-bars and sunken rocks, more perilous than pirates and enemy's men-of-war, namely, a tenth-rate man in a first-rate place. Franklin was five months in getting from Philadelphia to London.

His preparations for the voyage were soon completed. Passage was engaged for father and son in a New York packet ship, and their stores were embarked. A few days before the time fixed for their departure, Lord Loudoun arrived at Philadelphia, having come from New York, as he said, for the purpose of attempting an accommodation between the Governor and the Assembly, in order that the king's service might be no longer obstructed by their dissensions. Hoping much from the interposition of this important personage, Franklin deferred his departure, and the packet sailed without him.

This Lord Loudoun was the obstructing man to whom allusion has just been made. His appointment to a post so difficult and so responsible as that of commander-in-chief of the king's forces in America, was doubtless owing, as most appointments then were, to some ministerial necessity of the moment. "On the whole," wrote Franklin afterwards, "I wondered much how such a man came to be intrusted with so important a business as the conduct of a great army but having since seen more of the great world, and the means of obtaining, and motives for giving places and employments, my wonder is diminished." What a force of satire in that quiet passage.

Lord Loudoun, being ready to begin his mediation, requested Governor Denny and Mr. Benjamin Franklin to meet him, saying that he wished to hear what could be advanced on both sides. The meeting occurred, and the subject was discussed. Franklin, on the part of the Assembly, gave his lordship the substance of the arguments with which in so many a striking paper he had plied the Governors and their masters. Governor Denny, on his part, could only do what he had always done when hard pressed, plead his instructions and his bond, proving by them that to yield to the Assembly was certain ruin to himself. Nevertheless, he intimated a willingness to hazard the consequences of compliance, if he could be permitted to urge in his defense that Lord Loudoun had advised it. The irresolute mind of his lordship was perplexed; for Franklin's reasoning was as difficult to set aside as Governor Denny's bond. "Once," says Franklin, "I thought I had nearly prevailed with him, but finally, he rather chose to urge the compliance of the Assembly; and he entreated me to use my endeavors with them for that purpose."

In view of the extreme urgency of the occasion, and the hope of speedy redress from the crown, Franklin advised the Assembly to yield once more, and adapt their legislation to the proprietary instructions. They did so, under protest, and Lord Loudoun received the credit of having restored harmony between the Governor and his unmanageable parliament. He thanked Franklin for the assistance he had rendered him, and soon returned to New York, whither the commissioner and his son prepared to follow him.

The leave-taking, indeed, was somewhat abrupt. There were two packet ships at New York ready to sail, and waiting only for

Lord Loudoun to give the word. Franklin asked him to name the precise time of the departure of the first packet, so that he might be in no danger of missing it. The reply was: "I have given out that she is to sail on Saturday next; but I may let you know, entre nous, that if you are there by Monday morning you will be in time, but do not delay longer!"

Father and son set out on the fourth of April. Franklin bade farewell to a home in which he had been happy for twenty-six years. His family then consisted of his wife, his wife's aged mother, his daughter, one or two nieces, and an old nurse of the family (frequently mentioned in Franklin's letters by the name of "Goody," or "Goody Smith.") His wife was a comely, prudent, cheerful dame, to whom he willingly confided all his affairs during his absence. His daughter Sarah was a beautiful child of twelve years, most tenderly beloved by her parents. She was evidently much in her father's thoughts as he rode away across the province of New Jersey. From Trenton he wrote back to his wife: "About a dozen of our friends accompanied us quite hither, to see us out of the province, and we spent a very agreeable evening together. I leave home and undertake this long voyage the more cheerfully, as I can rely on your prudence in the management of my affairs and the education of our dear child; and yet I cannot forbear once more recommending her to you with a father's tenderest concern."

There was some hindrance at one of the ferries on the road, which prevented their arrival at Newark until Monday noon, and Franklin was alarmed lest the ship had sailed without him. On reaching the Hudson, however, he was relieved to hear that she was still lying at anchor, and would sail the next day.

Such, indeed, was the captain's desire and purpose. But he could not sail without the permission of the commander-in-chief, and it was eleven weeks before that permission could be obtained. Lord Loudoun was a marvel of dilatoriness and procrastination. Never were great interests so trifled with as by him. Some of the instances given by Franklin of his indecision and indolence, are almost beyond belief. During this delay of eleven weeks, his dispatches, for which the packet waited, were always to be ready tomorrow. A third packet arrived at length, and soon after all three vessels were ready to sail, and had passengers engaged for England. Still the to-inorrow of the general would not dawn, and the packets