their commissions were soon after vacated by the repeal, in England, of the law under which they were held.

The personal qualities and public services of Franklin, however, had won for him better and less brittle honors than any commission, even from his majesty of England, could confer. As a token of the esteem with which he was regarded, it may be mentioned that, while holding his colonelcy, having occasion to visit Virginia, his officers, to use his own words, " took it into their heads that it would be proper for them to escort him out of town as far as the lower ferry." For this purpose, just as he was about to mount his horse, they rode up to his door in full uniform, alike to his surprise and regret; for he had a strong repugnance to display, and if he had received beforehand the least intimation of what was intended, he would have avoided it. But it was now too late, and he was constrained to submit to the well-meant but annoying honor.

Some envious personal enemy of his wrote an account of this affair to Thomas Penn, who lived in London, and it served to impart new bitterness to the hatred with which the Proprietary already regarded Franklin, for the prominent part he had taken in the Assembly against exempting the proprietary estates in the province from taxation. Penn had even the effrontery not only to accuse Franklin to the ministers of the crown with being the chief obstruction to the king's service in the province, by opposing grants of money in proper form, and with the design to change the provincial government by force of arms. -in evidence of which he cited the abovenamed escort-but he also endeavored, though ineffectually, to procure his removal as the head of the colonial postoffice department.

With Morris, the provincial governor, though bound, like his predecessors, by the instructions of the Propri

etary, Franklin, notwithstanding the leading part he took in the Assembly in its disputes with that officer, continued personally on good terms; and the governor occasionally consulted with him in relation to public affairs. In the measures taken in aid of Braddock's expedition, they cooperated; and on hearing of its fatal issue, Morris instantly sent for Franklin, to confer with him on the means of protecting the back settlements. We have already seen with what ample powers Franklin was employed on the frontier; and after his return from that service, the governor offered him a general's commission, if he would, with provincial troops, undertake the same enterprise in which Braddock had so disastrously failed. In reference to this last proposal, Franklin, after a modest remark respecting his qualifications for military employment, intimates that the governor himself also probably expected less from him in that way than from his popularity as a means of raising the requisite force, and from his influence in the Assembly for obtaining funds. The project, however, was not pressed; and Morris was not long after succeeded by Governor Denny.

On the arrival of the new governor, in 1757, the city authorities of Philadelphia gave him a public dinner by way of welcome, and introduction to the principal citizens, with whom his station and character would naturally bring him into political and social connection; and he took the occasion to present to Franklin the gold medal voted him by the Royal Society in London for his discoveries in electricity and his eminent success in advancing that branch of knowledge. Governor Denny executed this commission on behalf of the society in appropriate terms of respectful eulogy; and after dinner, while the company generally were engaged with their conversation and wine, Denny, taking Franklin into an adjoining apartment, told him how strongly he had been

urged, in England, and how earnestly he desired, to cultivate his friendship and avail himself of his advice in relation to public affairs and the management of his administration; that he should cheerfully render him any service in his power; that nothing could more effectually promote the public good than harmony between the executive and the representatives of the people; that no person could exert a more efficient and wholesome influence in this way than he could; and that such a course would certainly be followed not only by the most hearty acknowledgments, but also by the most substantial benefits.

This conversation seems to have been skilfully con ducted by the governor; but with all its well-worded assurances of esteem and future advantage, its true aim and intent were clearly perceived by Franklin, who promptly yet courteously replied that his circumstances, by the blessing of Providence, rendered him independent of proprietary favors, which, as a representative of the people, he could not in any event accept; that no feeling of personal hostility had at any time influenced his public conduct; that his opposition to the policy of the Proprietary had proceeded solely from his convictions as to the rights and true interests of the province; that if the measures proposed by the Proprietary or his deputies should be in accordance with his own views of justice and the public welfare, he should cheerfully and gladly give them his hearty and earnest support; and thanking the governor for his expressions of personal regard, intimated a hope that he was about to enter upon his administration unencumbered with the usual Proprietary instructions, which had been the real source of all those contests with the Assembly, that had been so annoying to preceding governors of the province, and had so much impeded the transaction of the public business.

Thus the interview ended; and though Governor Denny