CHAP. collected wisdom and fortitude of the whole people XLVIII. might dictate measures for the rescue of their Nov. happy and glorious Constitution.” "These worthy 1772. Dec. New Englanders," cried Chatham, as he read the It may reasonably be asked what England was gaining by the controversy with America. The Commissioners of the Stamp Office were just then settling their accounts for their expenses in America; which were found to have exceeded twelve thousand pounds, while they had received for revenue, almost entirely from Canada and the West India Islands, only about fifteen hundred. The result of the tax on tea had been more disastrous. Even in Boston, under the very eyes of the Commissioners of the Customs, seven eighths of the teas consumed were Dutch teas, and in the Southern Governments, the proportion was much greater; so that the whole remittance of the last year for duties on tea and wines and other articles taxed indirectly, amounted to no more than eighty-five or eighty pounds; while ships and soldiers for the support of the collecting officers had cost some hundred thousands, and the East India Company had lost the sale of goods to the amount of two and a half millions of dollars annually. 5 England was growing weary of the fruitless strife. Lord North wished it at an end; and Dartmouth, instead of thinking to appeal to Parliament for strin Chatham to T. Hollis, Burton 2 B. Franklin to J. Galloway, Hutchinson to Dartmouth, No. 2, 27 October, 1772. 'Franklin's Preface of the British Editor to the Votes and Proceedings of the Town of Boston. Franklin to Galloway, 2 Dec. 1772. XLVIII. 1772. gent measures, desired the King to "reign in the CHAP. affections of his people," and would have regarded conciliation as "the happiest event of his life."1 A Nov. Member of Parliament, having discovered through John Temple, that every perverse 66 measure, and every grievance complained of took their rise not from the British Government, but were projected, proposed to Administration, solicited and obtained by some of the most respectable among the Americans themselves, as necessary for the welfare of that country," endeavored to convince Franklin of the well ascertained fact. Franklin remaining skeptical, he returned in a few days with letters from Hutchinson, Oliver, and Paxton, written to produce coercion. These had been addressed to Whately, who had communicated them to Grenville, his patron, and through him to Lord Temple. They had been handed about, that they might more certainly contribute to effect the end which their writers had in view; and at Whately's death, remained in the possession of others. 1 Dartmouth to Hutchinson, 9 to Dec. 1772. 2 That it was understood to be a Member of Parliament, appears from John Adams, who cites Franklin as his authority. Such certainly was the opinion of Hutchinson. "A Member of Parliament, by whom they had been communicated to Dr. Franklin." Hutchinson, iii. 418. That Temple was privy to the plan of getting the letters, we know from Hutchinson and under his own hand. That he kept aloof, and at this time concealed his agency in the matter, appears from his own statement and from that of Franklin. Franklin gave his word not name his informer. English writers have not noticed, that the English Ministry and Hutchin son seem to have had the means of discovering the secret, that the Ministry discouraged inquiry, and that Temple was subsequently forgiven, and appointed to a good place. Almon's Biog. Anecdotes, ii. 105; confirmed by the recently printed Grenville Papers, which show that Whately was accustomed to communicate to Grenville what he received from Hutchinson. "Another correspondent, [i. e. Hutchinson,] the same gentleman, one of whose letters I lately sent you," &c. &c. Grenville Papers, iv. 480. CHAP. 1772. Nov. These, which were but very moderate specimens XLVIII. of a most persevering and most extensive Correspondence of a like nature, Franklin was authorized to send, to his constituents not for publication, but to be retained for some months, and perused by the Corresponding Committee of the Legislature, by members of the Council, and by some few others to whom the Chairman of that Committee might think proper to show them. Dec. Had the conspiracy which was thus laid bare, aimed at the life of a Minister or the King, any honest man must have immediately communicated the discovery to the Secretary of State; to conspire to introduce into America a military Government, and abridge American liberty, was a more heinous crime, of which irrefragable evidence had now come to light. Franklin, as Agent of Massachusetts, made himself the public accuser of those whose guilt was now exposed; and in an official letter sent the proofs of their designs to the Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, with no concealment or reservation but such as his informer had required. "All good men," wrote Franklin as he forwarded the letters, "wish harmony to subsist between the Colonies and the Mother Country. My resentment against this country for its arbitrary measures in governing us, has been exceedingly abated, since my conviction by these papers that those measures were projected, advised, and called for by men of character among ourselves. I think they must have the same effect with you. As to the writers, when I find them bartering away the liberties of their native country for posts, negotiating for salaries and pensions extorted from the people, and, con XLVIII. 1772. Dec. scious of the odium these might be attended with, call- CHAP. ing for troops to protect and secure the enjoyment of them; when I see them exciting jealousies in the Crown, and provoking it to wrath against so great a part of its most faithful subjects; creating enmities between the different countries of which the empire consists; occasioning a great expense to the old country, for suppressing or preventing imaginary rebel. lions in the new, and to the new country for the payment of needless gratifications to useless officers and enemies; I cannot but doubt their sincerity even in the political principles they profess, and deem them mere time-servers, seeking their own private emoluments, through any quantity of public mischief; betrayers of the interest not of their native country only, but of the Government they pretend to serve, and of the whole English empire." 1 While the letters were on their way, the towns in the Province were just coming together under the impulse from Boston. The people of Marblehead, whose fishermen were all returned from their annual summer's excursion to the Grand Banks, at a full meeting, with but one dissentient, expressed "their unavoidable disesteem and reluctant irreverence for the British Parliament;" their sense of the "great and uncommon kind of grievance," of being compelled "to carry the produce of Spain and Portugal, received for their fish, to Great Britain, and there paying duties;" how "justly they were incensed at the unconstitutional, unrighteous proceedings" of Ministers, how they "de 'B. Franklin to T. Cushing, 2 Dec. 1772. XLVIII. 1772. Nov. CHAP. tested the name of a Hillsborough;" how ready they were to "unite for the recovery of their violated rights;" and like Roxbury1 and Plymouth, they appointed their Committee. Warren of Plymouth exerted himself diligently, but despondingly. "The towns," said he, "are dead; and cannot be raised without a miracle." "I am very sorry to find you the least approach towards despair," answered Adams. "Nil desperandum is a motto for you and me. All are not dead; and where there is a spark of patriotic fire we will rekindle it." The patriot's noble confidence was justified." In Plymouth itself, "there were ninety to one to fight Great Britain." Dec. in The people of Cambridge, in a full meeting, were "much concerned to maintain and secure their own invaluable rights which were not the gift of Kings, but purchased with the precious blood and treasure of their ancestors;" and they "discovered a glorious spirit like men determined to be free." Roxbury, which had moved with deliberation, found "the rights of the colonists fully supported and warranted by the laws of God and Nature, the New Testament and the Charter of the Province." "Our pious Forefathers," said they, "died with the pleasing hope, that we their children should live free; let none, as they will answer it another day, disturb the ashes of those heroes by selling their birthright." Judge Oliver of Middleborough 'James Warren of Plymouth to to Hutchinson, 16 Dec. 1772. |