arts of misrepresentation no longer availing to the selfish purposes of an interested party, Mr. Franklin, while engaged in negociation with the proprietaries, employed his leisure hours in drawing up a minute account of the province for general information. The necessity of such a publication was obvious from the insidious attempts made, through various journals, to blacken the inhabitants of Pennsylvania with the foul charges of ingratitude to the founder of that colony, injustice to its present proprietors, and even disaffection to the parent country. Mr. Franklin saw with concern that this delusion prevailed to such a degree as to give him little chance of success in the object of his mission, until he could dispel the cloud of prejudice that craft had raised, and convince the British nation of the wrong which it countenanced through ignorance and credulity. But knowing that it is in the nature of discussion to elicit truth, and of perseverance to defeat falsehood, he resolved to publish a volume that should attract notice by the manner of its composition, and produce effect by the importance of the matter which it contained. With this view he began to trace the history of the province from its primary settlement, and to exhibit the various changes which it had progressively undergone in the form of its government. Having sketched his design, he found that it grew upon his hands, as it not only obliged him to enter minutely into the detail of facts and the adduction of records, but to illustrate them by explanations and to apply them by reflections. This performance appeared at the beginning of 1759, with the title of "An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania from its origin; so far as regards the several points of controversy which have from time to time arisen between the several Governors of Pennsylvania and their several Assemblies. Founded on authentic documents." To which was prefixed this motto: "Those who give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." This work was necessarily anonymous; and the strictest circumspection appears to have been observed in regard to the author, who being at that time employed in negociating with the proprietaries as well as in bringing the business before the privy council, could not well publish any statement of the matters under discussion in his own name. The "Review," therefore, long passed as the production of James Ralph, the historian, who having long resided in Philadelphia, and being generally known as a political writer, was the more easily believed to have taken this deep interest in the concerns of a province with which he was well acquainted. There is little doubt indeed that this ascription of the book to Ralph was a matter perfectly agreeable to the real author, if not actually concerted by him for the purpose of diverting the attention of those persons who from interested motives and resentment might have been disposed to represent his

appeal to the public as an injury to individuals, and an insult offered to government. Mr. Franklin was aware that his mission excited jealousy, and that his conduct would therefore be closely watched, in order to take the advantage of any inadvertencies which he might commit. While, therefore, he saw the expediency of setting the nation right on the subject in dispute, in order to justify the colonists on the one hand, and to reduce the extravagant claims of those who lorded it over them on the other; he was careful to do this in such a manner as should not give offence to any party. At present the internal character of the book is too strongly marked to mislead any one that is at all conversant with the style of Franklin; but when it originally appeared, his reputation as a writer was not sufficiently established to render the discovery easy by the simple test of literary composition. Such, however, were its attractions in this respect, that notwithstanding the peculiar aridity of the subject, the work gained public notice, and was distinguished by the approbation of those who were most competent to decide upon its merits.

The dedication to Arthur Onslow, the venerable Speaker of the House of Commons, would alone be sufficient to ascertain the hand whence the Review proceeded; for, independent of its epigrammatic turns and general terseness, it breathes the language of a person acting by the authority of the provincialists, whose cause he so powerfully pleaded.

To the Right Honorable Arthur Onslow, Esq. Speaker of the Honorable House of Commons.

Sir,

The subject of the following sheets is an unhappy one: the controversy between the proprietaries and successive assemblies of Pennsylvania. A controversy which has often embarrassed, if not endangered the public service; a controversy which has been long depending, and which still seems to be as far from an issue as ever.

Our blessed Saviour reproaches the Pharisees with laying heavy burdens on men's shoulders, which they themselves would not stir with a single finger.

Our proprietaries, Sir, have done the same; and for the sake of the commonwealth, the province has hitherto submitted to the imposition. Not, indeed, without the most strenuous endeavours to lay the load equally, the fullest manifestations of their right to do so, and the strongest protestations against the violence put upon them.

Having been most injuriously misrepresented and traduced in print by the known agents and dependants of these gentlemen, their fellow subjects, they at last find

themselves obliged to set forth an historical state of their case, and to make their appeal to the public upon it.

With the public opinion in their favour, they may with the more confidence lift up their eyes to the wisdom of Parliament and the majesty of the Crown, from whence alone they can derive an effectual remedy.

To your hands, Sir, these papers are most humbly presented, for considerations so obvious, that they scarce need any explanation.

The Roman provinces did not stand more in need of patronage than ours: and such clients as we are, would have preferred the integrity of Cato to the fortune of Cæsar.

The cause we bring, is in fact the cause of all the provinces in one; it is the cause of every British subject in every part of the British dominions. It is the cause of every man who deserves to be free, every where.:

The propriety, therefore, of addressing these papers to a gentleman, who, for so many successive parliaments, with so much honour to himself and satisfaction to the public, has been at the head of the Commons of Great Britain, cannot be called in question.

You will smile, Sir, perhaps, as you read the references of a provincial assembly to the rights and claims of Parliament; but, we humbly conceive, it will be without the least mixture of resentment; those assemblies having nothing more in view than barely to establish their privileges, on the most rational and solid basis they could find, for the security and service of their constituents.

And you are humbly besought, Sir, not to think the worse of this address, because it has been made without your permission or privity.

Nobody asks leave to pay a debt; every Briton is your debtor, Sir; and all we have said, or can say, is but a poor composition for what we owe you.

You have conferred as much honour on the chair you fill, as the chair has conferred on you.

Probity and dignity are your characteristics.

May that seat always derive the same lustre from the same qualities.

This at least ought to be our prayer, whether it is or not within our expectations. For the province of Pennsylvania, as well as in my own private capacity, I have the honour to be, with the most profound respect, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, THE EDITOR.

But as the Introduction is, if possible, still more decidedly descriptive of the author, and is in itself altogether so excellent, no apology can be necessary for giving it a place in these memoirs.

INTRODUCTION.

"To obtain an infinite variety of purposes, by a few plain principles, is the characteristic of Nature. As the eye is affected, so is the understanding: objects at a distance, strike us according to their dimensions, or the quantity of light thrown upon them; near, according to their novelty or familiarity; as they are in motion or at rest. It is the same with actions. A battle is all motion; a hero all glare; while such images are before us, we can attend to nothing else. Solon and Lycurgus would make no figure in the same scene with the King of Prussia; and we are at present so lost in the military scramble on the continent next us,1 in which it inust be confessed, we are deeply interested, that we have scarce time to throw a glance towards America, where we have also much at stake, and where, if any where, our account must be made up at last.

"We love to stare more than to reflect; and to be indolently amused at our leisure, rather than commit the smallest trespass on our patience by winding a painful, tedious maze, which would pay us nothing but knowledge.

"But then, as there are some eyes which can find nothing marvellous, but what is marvellously great, so there are others which are equally disposed to marvel at what is marvellously little; and who can derive as much entertainment from their micro scope in examining a mite, as Dr. in ascertaining the geography of the moon, or measuring the tail of a comet.

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"Let this serve as an excuse for the author of these sheets, if he needs any, for bestowing them on the transactions of a colony, till of late, hardly mentioned in our annals; in point of establishment, one of the last upon the British list, and in point of rank, one of the most subordinate; as being not only subject, in common with the rest, to the crown, but also to the claims of a proprietary, who thinks he does them honor enough in governing them by deputy; consequently so much further removed from the royal eye, and so much the more exposed to the pressure of selfinterested instructions.

"Considerable, however, as most of them for happiness of situation, fertility of soil, product of valuable commodities, number of inhabitants, shipping, amount of exportations, latitude of rights and privileges, and every other requisite for the being and well-being of society, and more considerable than any of them all for the celerity of its growth unassisted by any human help but the vigor and virtue of its own excellent constitution.

1 This publication was made in London during the war that began in 1753. VOL. I.

T

“A father and his family, the latter united by interest and affection, the former to be revered for the wisdom of his instructions, and the indulgent use of his authority was the form it was at first presented in. Those who were only ambitious of repose, found it here; and as none returned with an evil report of the land, numbers followed; all partook of the leaven they found; the community still wore the same equal face; nobody aspired; nobody was oppressed: industry was sure of profit, knowledge of esteem, and virtue of veneration.

"An assuming landlord, strongly disposed to convert free tenants into abject vassals, and to reap what he did not sow, countenanced and abetted by a few desperate and designing dependents, on the one side; and on the other, all who had sense enough to know their rights, and spirit enough to defend them, combined as one man against the said landlord, and his encroachments, is the form it has since assumed.

"And surely, to a nation born to liberty like this, bound to leave it unimpaired as they received it from their fathers in perpetuity to their heirs, and interested in the conservation of it in every appendage of the British Empire, the particulars of such a contest cannot be wholly indifferent.

"On the contrary, it is reasonable to think, the first workings of power against liberty, and the natural efforts of unbiassed men to secure themselves against the first approaches of oppression, must have a captivating power over every man of sensibility and discernment amongst us.

"Liberty, it seems, thrives best in the woods. America best cultivated what Germany brought forth. And were it not for certain ugly comparisons hard to be suppressed, the pleasure arising from such a research would be without alloy.

"In the feuds of Florence, recorded by Machiavel, we find more to lament, and less to praise. Scarce can we believe the first citizens of the ancient republics had such pretensions to consideration, though so highly celebrated in ancient story. And as to ourselves, we need no longer have recourse to the late glorious stand of the French parliaments to excite our emulation.

"It is a known custom among farmers to change their corn from season to season for the sake of filling the bushel and in case the wisdom of the age should condescend to make the like experiment in another shape, hence we may learn, whither to repair for the proper species.

"It is not, however, to be presumed, that such as have long been accustomed to consider the colonies, in general, as only so many dependencies on the council board, the board of trade, and the board of customs; or as a hot-bed for causes, jobs, and other pecuniary emoluments, and as bound as effectually by instructions as by laws, can be prevailed upon to consider these patriot-rustics with any degree of