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No. 7.) now particularly referred to; that when Dr. Franklin, as agent for the province of Massachusetts Bay, presented the petition for removing the governor and lieutenant governor, the ministry made the cause of those gentlemen their own; and Wedderburn, in defiance of the common law and custom of the realm, was ordered to change the object of the court; and, instead of entering into the merits of the question, to abuse a man who had offended them :

"Search earth, search hell, the devil could not find,

An agent like Lothario to his mind."

Churchill.

Wedderburn was every

This, like all atrocious proceedings, raised the indignation of the people, and a transient glow was seen in every countenance. In the first transports of it, even corruption and venality spoke the sentiments of virtue. where mentioned with detestation, which was doing him too much honour; a little troublesome genius, with words enough to be plausible, and cunning enough to be a tool, can never be an object for any thing but contempt. It was as generous in the public to be angry with him, as it would be in a child to detest a brick-bat or a stone which had been made use of to injure its benefactor. Those who were somewhere behind the scenes, and who ordered the exhibitions which the ostensible people were only acting, were the proper objects of indignation; and if there had been virtue enough in the nation, they would have been dragged into light, and sacrificed to the liberties of the people.

Administration having at this time succeeded in their plans in the East, turned their views westward, where alone liberty seemed to have any refuge, and where therefore their principal efforts must be directed. The same art and the same chicane had been practised there; but it was not likely to be attended with the same success. America was not disposed to become, like the East Indies, an appendage to administration.. It had raised itself into wealth by a kind industry which produced virtues of which administration had little or no conception; they therefore denominated them vices.

It was evident, that the contest with America was merely an affair of administration, with a view to increase the number of places at its disposal, and to facilitate the only method they knew of to govern the people. It will not be wondered at, therefore, that those persons who appeared in behalf of the Americans, should undergo all the rage and malice of administration. Dr. Franklin had been the most distinguished of those, and would long before have been sacrificed to their resentment, if he had not been protected by real integrity and by very superior

talents. He was sent over to England to oppose the stamp act; and the virtuous and noble strain of all his answers at his examination before the house of commons, in February, 1766,1 seemed to reproach the times: they were like the sentiments of an Aristides, and they left deep impressions on the minds of men. For that very reason he was watched, tried, and tempted. Cunning, allied even with power, cannot commit wickedness in a manly manner. At last, something like an occasion arose, and the whole wisdom of government was employed to make the most of it. Dr. Franklin had got into his possession the letters of governor Hutchinson and lieutenant governor Oliver, in a manner which he has shown to have been very consistent with the highest honour and honesty. These letters, which Wedderburn called private and confidential ones, were used by public men to produce public measures. Dr. Franklin thought it his duty as an agent, to send them to Boston, to remove the misapprehensions of his friends there concerning all the motives of government, and to direct their resentment to its proper objects. A further use was made of the letters than he intended; and they produced the petition which he was ordered to present. The conduct of administration on the occasion was most extraordinary! The rulers of a great people might have been expected, even with any principles, to have had some regard to decency. The petition of a large and important province was going to be considered: administration thought fit to turn it into a pastime; they invited their friends in great numbers to partake of the entertainment. This serious business was converted into a bullbaiting; the noble creature was to be taken by surprise, to be secured from assist ́ance, and to be yelped and bit at by a little noisy cur. This was proper matter of diversion for a solemn committee of the privy council, and a large audience of the wise and virtuous senators of the country!!

But it served to amuse. The Boston petition had the appearance of a hearing; and some noise was made about virtue, and truth, and honor, in ill-grounded invectives against Dr. Franklin. That truly great and good man beheld the childish tricks with thorough contempt; resolved himself not to break in upon the proper decorum of public business; and as he had not come there to squabble with Mr. Wedderburn, and was not, like him, a wrangler by profession, he thought it would be greatly letting himself down to take any notice of him. He therefore let the diversion go on; and went home fully determined to make his appeal to a higher and more competent tribunal.

But cunning deals in something like plans and schemes of mischief, which Franklin

I See Appendix, No. 7.

did not suspect from the talents of his abusers; and if he had, he could not have provided against them. On the first rumour of a petition from Boston, against these good friends of administration, Hutchinson and Oliver, they determined on the whole plan. When the matter came to a hearing, it was to be converted into abuse of Dr. Franklin, who was to be dismissed from his place the next morning, loaded with all the ignominy and disgrace they could lay upon him.—But what was to be done with his understanding and talents?—This man, though in years, and of a philosophical and peaceable turn, might not take all these injuries in good part; and Wilkes had given an instance that the people will favour the oppressed. Yes, and Wilkes had taught administration,—not virtue—that would have been a miracle,—but caution and prudence in committing violence. Wedderburn's talents would serve on this occasion; and he advised them to a suit in chancery. Whateley, banker to the treasury, was accordingly ordered to file a bill in chancery against Dr. Franklin, for taking away his brother's letters. This it seems effectually tied up the Doctor's hands, and was undoubtedly done with that sole view. For a man cannot even defend his own reputation, when the question on which it depends is what they call, pendent before my Lord Chancellor. The treasury is rich enough to keep this matter pendent a long while; and an offender against administration must not expect to disobey the rules of Chancery, unnoticed by the Lord Chancellor. This fact, at the same time that it exhibited the great wisdom and equity of administration, accounted to the public for what seemed very strange: "That while a man of Dr. Franklin's character and abilities was daily and maliciously traduced, he had not published a line in his own defence." The essays which appeared for him in the public papers, were without his participation and without his knowledge. He had however written a full and clear account of the part he had taken in all public measures; and the motives and views on which he acted, probably with the intention of submitting it to the consideration of the world, whenever he could do it with safety. In the mean time it was the duty of his friends, to do what they could to prevent the effects of the most deliberate and rancorous malice that had ever been exerted against an innocent and praise-worthy man.

Every objection to his conduct was answered at the time, and generally well answered; except the plausible one, which was triumphantly made by the friends of administration. They said that a man holding a place under a government, should

VOL. I.

'See letter to Alexander Wedderburn, Esq. APPENDIX, No. 7.

2 D

be faithful to that government; and that Dr. Franklin having a lucrative office should not have embroiled government, on any account, with the Americans. This was suffering to be taken for granted, what indeed it would not have been difficult to prove; that the interest of administration is one thing, and the interest of the people another. It does not signify where the people reside, whether in America or in Middlesex. This being the case, it is avowing the plainest principle of tyranny, to maintain that the King's servants are his own, and have no duty or relation to the people! Despotic governments perhaps may be alarmed to find this doctrine now condemned even in the army, which they consider as immediately depending on themselves, and perfectly separate from the public interest. To the honour of the military gentlemen, however, it is a fact, that many officers define their obligations with an integrity and public spirit which would have pleased a Cato. "We are the King's ser

vants," say they, "but it is only while the King is the servant of the people." Apply this glorious principle to the case of Dr. Franklin; and let the Mauduits and Wedderburns nibble at it to the end of time.

Shortly after the proceedings before the privy council, Dr. Franklin was dismissed from the office of deputy post-master general, which he held under the crown. It was not only by his transmission of the letters of Governor Bernard and Lieutenant Governor Hutchinson, that he had given offence to the British ministry, but by his popular writings in favour of America. Two pieces in particular had lately attracted a large share of public attention on both sides of the Atlantic. The one purported to be an edict from the king of Prussia,1 for taxing the inhabitants of Great Britain, as descendants of emigrants from his dominions. The other was entitled, "Rules for reducing a great empire to a small one;"2 in both of which he exposed the claims of the mother country and the proceedings of the British ministry, with the severity of poignant satire.

Pending these transactions another antagonist to Dr. Franklin's fame started up. A publication by Josiah Tucker, D. D. and dean of Gloucester, appeared, and occasioned the following correspondence; by which it will readily be seen, that Dr. Franklin earnestly endeavoured to obtain from the Dean, an open and fair communication of the grounds and reasons upon which the latter had relied, in making certain charges against the former; and that he did this in the fullest confidence of

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Sir, ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

London, Feb. 12, 1774.

Being informed by a friend that some severe strictures on my conduct and character had appeared in a 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 directly or indirectly to be appointed one of the stamp 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, insinuations of the same import, naming me 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 that they have the weight of your name and dignified character, I am more sensible of the injury; and I beg leave to request, that you would reconsider the grounds on which you have ventured to publish an accusation, that, if believed, must 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 enquiry, 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 reputation, I flatter myself that your equity will induce you to do me justice, by retracting that accusation. In confidence of this, I am with great esteem, Reverend Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant, B. FKANKLIN.

SIR,

To Dr. FRANKLIN.

Monday, Feb. 21, 1774.

The letter which you did me the honour to send to Gloucester, I have just received in London,. where I have resided many weeks, and am now

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