representations of us, the measures they suggest, the "Resolved, That this is a most wicked and injurious temper in which they were written, the manner in which representation, designed to inflame the minds of his they were sent, and the person to whom they were ad- majesty's ministers, and the nation; and to excite in dressed, had a natural and efficacioas tendency to in- the breast of our sovereign, a jealousy of his loyal subterrupt and alienate the affections of our most gra-jects of said town, without the least grounds therecious sovereign King George the Third, from this his loy- for, as enemies of his majesty's person and governal and affectionate province; to destroy that harmony ment. and good will between Great Britain and this colony, "Whereas, certain letters by two private persons, which every friend,to either would wish to establish; signed, T. Moffat and G. Rome, have been laid before to excite the resentment of the British administration the house, which letters contain many matters highly against this province; to defeat the endeavours of injurious to government, and to the national peace: our agents and friends to serve us by a fair representa- Resolved, That it has been the misfortune of this gotion of our state of grievances; to prevent our hum vernment, from the earliest period of it, from time to ble and repeated petitions from reaching the royal ear time, to be secretly traduced and maliciously representof our common sovereign; and to produce the severe ed to the British ministry, by persons who were neiand destructive measures which have been taken ther friendly to this colony, nor to the English constiagainst this province, and others still more so, which tution. have been threatened. Resolved, As the opinion of this house, that it clearly appears from the letters aforesaid, signed Thomas Hutchinson and Andrew Oliver, that it was the desire and endeavour of the writers of them, that cer. tain acts of the British parliament, for raising a revenue in America, might be carried into effect by military force; ant by introducing a fleet and army into this his majesty's loyal province, to intimidate the minds of his subjects here, and to prevent every constitutional measure to obtain the repeal of those acts, so justly esteeme la grievance to us, and to suppress the very spirit of freedom. Resolved, That this house have just reason to complain of it as a very great grievance, that the humble petitions and remonstrances 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 been laid before administration, attended to, and determined upon, not only to the injury of the repu tation of the people, but to the depriving them of their invaluable rights and liberties. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this house, that as the salaries lately appointed for the governor, lieu- "Whereas this house are humbly of opinion, that tenant-governor, and judges of this province, directly his majesty will judge it to be incompatible with the repugnant to the charter, and subversive of justice, interest of his crown, and the peace and safety of the are founded on this revenue; and as these letters were good people of this his loyal province, that persons written with a design, and had a tendency to promote should be continued in places of high trust and authoand support that revenue, therefore, there is great rea-rity in it, who are known to have with great indusson to suppose the writers of those letters were wellknowing to, suggested and promoted the enacting said revenue acts, and the establishments founded on the Resolved, as the opinion of this house, That by comparing these letters signed THO. HUTCHINSON, with those signed AND. OLIVER, CHAS. PAXTON, and NATH. ROGERS, and considering what has since in fact taken expense of the rights and liberties of the American try, though secretly, endeavoured to undermine, alter,. "Resolved, That this house is bound in duty to the king and their constituents, humbly to remonstrate to his majesty, the conduct of his excellency Thomas Hutchinson, esq. governor, and the honourable Andrew Oliver, esq. lieutenant-governor of this province; and to pray that his majesty would be pleased to remove them for ever from the government thereof." Upon these resolutions was founded a petition, transmitted to me to be presented to his majesty. Lord Dartmouth, secretary of state for the colonies, being in the country when I received this petition, I transmitted it to his lordship, inclosed in a letter. place conformable thereto, that there have been for ma ny years past, measures contemplated, and a plan form ed, by a set of men born and educated among us, to raise their own fortunes, and advance themselves to posts of honour and profit, not only to the destruction of the No one who knows lord Dartmouth, can charter and constitution of this province, but at the doubt of the sincerity of the good wishes excolonies. And it is further the opinion of this house, pressed in his letter to me; and if his majesthat the said persons have been some of the chief in ty's other servants had fortunately been posstruments in the introduction of a military force into the sessed of the same benevolent dispositions, province, to carry their plans into execution; and therefore they have been not only greatly instrumental in with as much of that attention to the public disturbing the peace and harmony of the government interest, and dexterity in managing it, as sities, but are justly chargeable with the great corrup-statesmen of this country generally show in tion of morals, and all that confusion, misery, and blood obtaining and securing their places, here was shed, which have been the natural effects of the introduc tion of troops. a fine opportunity put into their hands of "reWhereas, for many years past, measures have establishing the union and harmony that forbeen taken by the British administration, very griev-merly subsisted between Great Britain and ous to the good people of this province; which this house have now reason to suppose, were promoted, if her colonies," so necessary to the welfare of not originally suggested by the writers of these letters; both, and upon the easy condition of only and many efforts have been made by the people to obrestoring things to the state they were in at and causing and promoting great discord and animo. tain the redress of their grievances: Resolved, "That it appears to this house, that the writers of the conclusion of the late war." This was a these letters have availed themselves of disorders that solemn declaration sent over from the province maturally arise in a free government under such op pressions, as arguments to prove, that it was original ly necessary such measures should have been taken, and that they should now be continued and increased "Whereas, in the letter singed Cha. Paxton, dated Boston Harbour, June 20, 1768, it is expressly declared, that unless we have immediately two or three regi ments. 'tis the opinion of all the friends of govern ment, that Boston will be in open rebellion.' most aggrieved, in which they acquitted Britain of their grievances, and charged them all upon a few individuals of their own country. Upon the heads of these very mischievous that of the whole nation was justly merited; men they deprecated no vengeance, though they considered it as a hard thing for an administration 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 T. Hutchinson, esquire, and A. Oliver, esquire, from their posts in that government, 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 wilderness all the offences which had arisen between the two countries, with the burden of which, they, having been the authors of these mischiefs, were most justly chargeable. imagining all now over between them, I still kept silence, till I heard that the duel was understood to be unfinished, (as having been interrupted by persons accidentally 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 public opinion, I took what I thought the shortest way to settle that opinion, with regard to the parties, by pub lishing an explanation in the PUBLIC ADVERTISER. This declaration of mine, was, at first, generally approved, except that some blamed me for not having made it sooner, so as to prevent the duel; but I had not the gift of But this opportunity, ministers had not the prophecy: I could not foresee that the gentlewisdom to embrace; they chose rather to re- men would fight; I did not even foresee that ject it, and to abuse and punish me for giving either of them could possibly take it ill of me. it. A court clamour was raised against me I imagined I was doing them a good office, in as an incendiary; and the very action upon clearing both of them from suspicion, and rewhich I valued myself, as it appeared to me a moving the cause of their difference. I should means of lessening our differences, I was un- have thought it natural for them both to have lucky enough to find charged upon me, as a thanked me, but I was mistaken as to one of wicked attempt to increase them. Strange them; his wound, perhaps, at first prevented perversion!* him, and afterwards he was tutored probably to another kind of behaviour by his court connections. My only acquaintance with this gentleman, Mr. William Whately, was from an application he made to me to do him the favour of inquiring after some land in Pennsylvania, supposed to have been purchased anciently from the first proprietor, by a major Thomson, his grandfather, of which they had some imperfect memorandums in the family but knew not whether it might not have been sold or conveyed away by him in his life-time, as there was no mention of it in his will. I took the trouble of writing accordingly, to a friend of mine, an eminent lawyer there, well acquainted with such business, desiring him to make the inquiry. "He took some pains in it at my request, and succeeded; and, in a letter informed me, that he had found the land; that the proprietary claimed it, but he thought the title was clear to the heir of Thomson; that he could easily recover it for him, and would undertake it if Mr. Whately should think fit to employ him; or if he rather chose to sell it, my friend empowered me to make him an offer of five thousand pounds sterling 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 intelligence, and called upon me once or twice afterwards to concert the means of making out his title. 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; for they had been in America near a year before I so much as knew where he lived:-and the others I was, it seems, equally unlucky in another action, which I also intended for a good one, and which brought on the abovementioned clamour. The news being arrived here, of the publication of those letters in America, great inquiry, was made who had transmitted them. Mr. Temple, a gentleman of the customs, was accused of it in the papers. He vindicated himself. A public 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 originally written, and who was suspected by some of communicating them, on the supposition, that by his brother's death, they might have fallen into his hands. As the gentleman to whom I sent them, 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 same reason, chosen not to let it be known I sent them, I suffered that altercation 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 gentlemen were parted; Mr. Whately was wounded, but not dangerously. This, however, alarmed me, and made me wish I had prevented it; but "We must not, in the course of public life, expect immediate approbation, and immediate grateful acknow ledgment of our services. But let us persevere through abuse, and even injury. The internal satisfaction of a good conscience is always present, and time will do us justice in the minds of the people, even those at pre sent the most prejudiced against us."-Franklin's Private Correspondence. I mention to show his gratitude. I could have excused his not thanking me for sparing him a second hazard of his life; for though he might feel himself 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 return this worthy gentleman made me for both favours, was, without the smallest previous notice, warning, complaint, or request to me, directly or indirectly, to clap upon my back a chancery suit. His bill set forth, "That he was administrator of the goods and chattles of his late brother, Thomas Whately; 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 returned to said Thomas Whately; that the same had by some means come into my hands; that to prevent a discovery, I, or some person by my order, had erased the address of the letters to the said Thomas Whately; that, carrying on the trade of a printer, I had by my agents or confederates, printed and published the same letters in America, and disposed of great numbers; that I threatened to print and sell the same in England; and that he had applied to me to deliver up to him the said letters, and all 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 complied with such request, but so it was that I had refused, &c., contrary to equity and good conscience, and to the manifest injury and oppression of him, the complainant; and praying my lord chancellor, that I might be obliged to discover how I came by the letters, what number of copies I had printed and sold, and to account with him for the profits, &c. &c." The gentleman himself, must have known, that every circumstance of this was totally false; that of his brother's having delivered the letters to some other person for perusal, excepted. Those as little acquainted with law as I was, (who, indeed, never before had a law-suit of any kind,) may wonder at this as much as I did; but I have now learned, that in chancery, though the defendant must swear to the truth of every point in his answer, the plaintiff is not put to his oath, or obliged to have the least regard to truth in his bill, but is allowed to lie as much as he pleases. I do not understand this, unless it be for the encouragement of business. My answer, upon oath, was, "That the letters in question were given to me, and came presentatives of the province of Massachusetts Bay; that when given to me, I did not know to whom they had been addressed, no address appearing upon them; nor did I know before, 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 might have been on the letters; nor did I know that any other person had made such era: ure; that I did, as agent to the province, transmit (as I apprehended it my duty to do) the said letters to one of the committee, with whom I had been directed to correspond, inasmuch as, in my judgment, they related to matters of great public importance to that province, and were put into my hands for that purpose; that I had never been applied to by the complainant, as asserted. in his bill, and had made no profits of the letters, nor intended to make any, &c." It was about this time become evident, that all thoughts of reconciliation with the colony of the Massachusetts Bay, by attention to their petitions and a redress of their grievances, was laid aside; that severity was resolved; and that the decrying and villifying the people of that country, and me their agent among the rest, was quite a court measure. It was the ton with all the ministerial folks 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 happened, that the petition for removal of the governors was to be rejected, the assembly censured, and myself 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. without the slightest provocation, I could not have imagined any man base enough to commence, of his own motion, such a vexatious suit against me. But a little accidental irformation served to throw some light upon the business: an acquaintance* calling 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 pension, and drawn by the secretary of the treasury on this same Mr. Whately. I then considered him as a banker to the treasury for the pension money, and thence as having an interested connection with administration, that might induce him to act by direction of others in harassing me 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, *This was the late William Strahan, Esq M. P. and. into my hands, as agent for the house of re- king's printer. VOL. I.... N 9 the ministers, will take in this cause, I know | produced virtues, of which administration had not: I do not believe the banker himself, little or no conception: they therefore definding there are no profits to be shared, would nominated them vices. willingly lay out a sixpence more upon the suit; but then my finances are not sufficient to cope at law with the treasury here; especially when administration has taken care to prevent my constituents of New England from paying me any salary, or reimbursing me any expenses, by a special instruction to the governor, not to sign any warrant for that purpose on the 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, while the governor, with a large salary out of the money extorted from them by act of parliament, was enabled to pay plentifully Mauduit and Wedderburn to abuse and defame them and their agent, is so evident as to need no comment. But this they call GOVERNMENT!! Here closes the tract, as written by Dr. Franklin. It appears by the foregoing faithful account of the proceedings before the lords of the privy council, 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 thêm: "Search earth, search hell, the devil could not find, An agent like LOTHARIO, to his mind."-Churchill. This, like all odious proceedings, raised the indignation of the people. In the first transports of it, even corruption and venality spoke the sentiments of virtue. Wedderburn was every where mentioned with detestation, which was doing him too much honour. It was generous in the public to be angry with him. 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. 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 For Dr. 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, 1776, seemed to reproach the times: they were like the sentiments of an Aristides, and they left deep impressions on the minds of men. 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. Franklin had got into his possession the letters of governor Hutchinson and lieutenantgovernor 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 bull-baiting; the noble creature was to be taken by surprise, to be secured from assistance, 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 Every objection to his conduct was answer truth, and honour, in ill-grounded invectives to prevent the effects of the most deliberate against Dr. Franklin. That truly great and and rancorous malice that had ever been good man beheld the childish tricks with exerted against an innocent and praiseworthy thorough compassion; resolved himself not to man. break in upon the proper decorum of public business; as he had not come there to squab-ed at the time, and generally well answered; ble with Mr. Wedderburn, and was not, except the plausible one, which was triumphlike him, a wrangler by profession. He there- antly made by the friends of administration. fore let the diversion go on; and went home They said that a man holding a place under fully determined to make his appeal to aa government, should be faithful to that gohigher and more competent tribunal, But cunning deals in something like plans and schemes of mischief, which Franklin 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,-caution and prudence in committing violence. Wedderburn's talents would serve on this occasion; and he advised them to a suit in chancery. Whately, 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, pendant before my lord chancellor. The treasury is rich enough to keep this matter pendant 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 min 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 vernment; 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. are the king's servants," 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 the Mauduits and Wedderburns are prostrated. 99 "We Shortly after the proceedings before the privy council, Dr. Franklin was dismissed from the office of deputy postmaster-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, 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;" 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 256566 |