A Benjamin Franklin Reader (30 page)

A Hater of Scandal

Junius and Cinna
came to Hand too late for this Day’s Paper, but shall have Place in our next.

Marriages.
None since our last; but Puss begins to go a Courting.

Deaths.
In the back Closet, and elsewhere, many poor Mice.

Stocks.
Biscuit very low. Buckwheat and Indian meal, both sour. Tea, lowering daily in the Canister.

Franklin’s battles with the colonial secretary, Lord Hillsborough, became more heated after Britain imposed new duties, especially on tea imports. Franklin, who was the agent for Pennsylvania and other colonies, was appointed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives to represent them as well. In January 1771 he obtained an audience with Hillsborough to present his new credentials. The meeting was so acrimonious that Franklin immediately went back to Craven Street to write a transcript of it. Hillsborough “took great offense at some of my last words, which he calls extremely rude and abusive,” Franklin reported to a friend in Boston. “I find that he did not mistake me.”

J
ANUARY
16, 1771

I went this morning to wait on Lord Hillsborough. The porter at first denied his lordship, on which I left my name, and drove off. But before the coach got out of the square, the coachman heard a call, turned, and went back to the door, when the porter came and said, his lordship will see you, sir. I was shown into the levee room, where I found Governor Barnard, who I understand attends there constantly. Several other gentlemen were there attending, with whom I sat down a few minutes. When Secretary Pownall came out to us, and said his lordship desired I would come in.

I was pleased with this ready admission, and preference, (having sometimes waited 3 or 4 hours for my turn) and being pleased, I could more easily put on the open cheerful countenance that my friends advised me to wear. His lordship came towards me, and said I was dressing in order to go to court; but hearing that you were at the door, who are a man of business, I determined to see you immediately. I thanked his lordship and said that my business at present was not much, it was only to pay my respects to his lordship and to acquaint him with my appointment by the House of Representatives of the province of Massachusetts Bay, to be their agent here, in which station if I could be of any service I was going on to say, to the public I should be very happy; but his lordship whose countenance changed at my naming that province cut me short, by saying, with something between a smile and a sneer,

Lord H.:
I must set you right there, Mr. Franklin, you are not Agent.

Franklin:
Why; my Lord?

Lord H.:
You are not appointed.

Franklin:
I do not understand your Lordship. I have the Appointment in my Pocket.

Lord H.:
You are mistaken. I have later and better advices. I have a letter from Governor Hutchinson. He would not give his Assent to the Bill.

Franklin:
There was no Bill, my Lord; it is a vote of the House.

Lord H.:
There was a Bill presented to the Governor, for the purpose of appointing you, and another, one Dr. Lee, I think he is called, to which the Governor refused his Assent.

Franklin:
I cannot understand this, my Lord. I think There must be some mistake in it. Is your Lordship quite sure that you have such a Letter?

Lord H.:
I will convince you of it directly.
Rings the Bell.
Mr. Pownall will come in and satisfy you.

Franklin:
You are going to Court. I will wait on your Lordship another time.

Lord H.:
No, stay, He will come in immediately.
To the Servant.
Tell Mr. Pownall I want him.
Mr. Pownall comes in.

Lord H.:
Have not you at hand Governor Hutchinson’s letter mentioning his refusing his Assent to the Bill for appointing Dr. Franklin Agent?

Secretary Pownall:
My Lord?

Lord H.:
Is there not such a Letter?

Secretary Pownall:
No, my Lord. There is a Letter relating to some Bill for payment of Salary to Mr. DeBerdt and I think to some other Agent, to which the Governor had refused his Assent.

Lord H.:
And is there nothing in that Letter to the purpose I mention?

Secretary Pownall:
No, my Lord.

Franklin:
I thought it could not well be, my Lord, as my Letters are by the last Ships and mention no such Thing. Here is an authentic Copy of the Vote of the House appointing me, in which there is no Mention of any Act intended. Will your Lordship please to look at it? (
With some seeming Unwillingness he takes it, but does not look into it
).

Lord H.:
An Information of this kind is not properly brought to me as Secretary of State. The Board of Trade is the proper Place.

Franklin:
I will leave the Paper then with Mr. Pownall, to be

Lord H.:
(
Hastily
) To what End would you leave it with him?

Franklin:
To be entered on the Minutes of that Board, as usual.

Lord H.:
(
Angrily
) It shall not be entered there. No such Paper shall be entered there while I have any thing to do with the Business of that Board. The House of Representatives has no Right to appoint an Agent. We shall take no Notice of any Agents but such as are appointed by Acts of Assembly to which the Governor gives his Assent. We have had Confusion enough already. Here is one Agent appointed by the Council, another by the House of Representatives; Which of these is Agent for the Province? Who are we to hear on Provincial Affairs? An Agent appointed by Act of Assembly we can understand. No other will be attended to for the future, I can assure you.

Franklin:
I cannot conceive, my Lord, why the Consent of the
Governor
should be thought necessary to the Appointment of an Agent for the
People.
It seems to me, that

Lord H.:
(
With a mixed Look of Anger and Contempt
) I shall not enter into a Dispute with you, Sir, upon this Subject.

Franklin:
I beg your Lordships Pardon. I do not presume to dispute with your

Lordship:
I would only say, that it seems to me, that every Body of Men, who cannot appear in Person where Business relating to them may be transacted, should have a Right to appear by an Agent; The Concurrence of the Governor does not seem to me necessary. It is the Business of the People that is to be done, he is not one of them, he is himself an Agent.

Lord H.:
Whose Agent is he? (
Hastily
).

Franklin:
The King’s, my Lord.

Lord H.:
No such Matter. He is one of the Corporation, by the Province Charter. No Agent can be appointed but by an Act, nor any Act pass without his Assent. Besides, This Proceeding is directly contrary to express Instructions.

Franklin:
I did not know there had been such Instructions, I am not concerned in any Offence against them, and

Lord H.:
Yes, your Offering such a Paper to be entered is an Offence against them. (
Folding it up again, without having read a Word of it.
) No such Appointment shall be entered. When I came into the Administration of American Affairs, I found them in great Disorder; By
my Firmness
they are now something mended; and while I have the Honor to hold the Seals, I shall continue the same Conduct, the same
Firmness.
I think My Duty to the Master I serve and to the Government of this Nation require it of me. If that Conduct is not approved, They may take my Office from me when they please. I shall make em a Bow, and thank em. I shall resign with Pleasure. That Gentleman knows it. (
Pointing to Mr. Pownall.
) But while I continue in it, I shall resolutely persevere in the same firmness. (
Spoken with great Warmth, and turning pale in his Discourse, as if he was angry at something or somebody besides the Agent; and of more Importance
) Consequence to himself.

Franklin:
(
Reaching out his Hand for the Paper, which his Lordship returned to him
) I beg your Lordship’s Pardon for taking up so much of your time. It is I believe of no great Importance whether the Appointment is acknowledged or not, for I have not the least Conception that an Agent can
at present
be of any Use, to any of the Colonies. I shall therefore give your Lordship no farther Trouble.
Withdrew.

The showdown with Hillsborough caused Franklin to contemplate the worst: that the dispute between Britain and America might lead to revolution and total separation. He did, however, hold out hope that prudent conduct could thwart those in Britain who favored even more repressive measures.

T
O THE
M
ASSACHUSETTS
H
OUSE OF
R
EPRESENTATIVES
, M
AY
15, 1771

Gentlemen,

…I think one may clearly see, in the system of customs to be exacted in America by act of Parliament, the seeds sown of a total disunion of the two countries, though, as yet, that event may be at a considerable distance. The course and natural progress seems to be, first, the appointment of needy men as officers, for others do not care to leave England; then, their necessities make them rapacious, their office makes them proud and insolent, their insolence and rapacity make them odious, and, being conscious that they are hated, they become malicious; their malice urges them to a continual abuse of the inhabitants in their letters to administration, representing them as disaffected and rebellious, and (to encourage the use of severity) as weak, divided, timid, and cowardly. Government believes all; thinks it necessary to support and countenance its officers; their quarrelling with the people is deemed a mark and consequence of their fidelity; they are therefore more highly rewarded, and this makes their conduct still more insolent and provoking.

The resentment of the people will, at times and on particular incidents, burst into outrages and violence upon such officers, and this naturally draws down severity and acts of further oppression from hence. The more the people are dissatisfied, the more rigor will be thought necessary; severe punishments will be inflicted to terrify; rights and privileges will be abolished; greater force will then be required to secure execution and submission; the expense will become enormous; it will then be thought proper, by fresh exactions, to make the people defray it; thence, the British nation and government will become odious, the subjection to it will be deemed no longer tolerable; war ensues, and the bloody struggle will end in absolute slavery to America, or ruin to Britain by the loss of her colonies; the latter most probable, from America’s growing strength and magnitude.

But, as the whole empire must, in either case, be greatly weakened, I cannot but wish to see much patience and the utmost discretion in our general conduct, that the fatal period may be postponed, and that, whenever this catastrophe shall happen, it may appear to all mankind, that the fault has not been ours. And, since the collection of these duties has already cost Britain infinitely more, in the loss of commerce, than they amount to, and that loss is likely to continue and increase by the encouragement given to our manufactures through resentment; and since the best pretence for establishing and enforcing the duties is the regulation of trade for the general advantage, it seems to me, that it would be much better for Britain to give them up, on condition of the colonies undertaking to enforce and collect such, as are thought fit to be continued, by laws of their own, and officers of their own appointment, for the public uses of their respective governments. This would alone destroy those seeds of disunion, and both countries might thence much longer continue to grow great together, more secure by their united strength, and more formidable to their common enemies. But the power of appointing friends and dependents to profitable offices is too pleasing to most administrations, to be easily parted with or lessened; and therefore such a proposition, if it were made, is not very likely to meet with attention.

I do not pretend to the gift of prophecy. History shows, that, by these steps, great empires have crumbled heretofore; and the late transactions we have so much cause to complain of show, that we are in the same train, and that, without a greater share of prudence and wisdom, than we have seen both sides to be possessed of, we shall probably come to the same conclusion.

The Parliament, however, is prorogued, without having taken any of the steps we had been threatened with, relating to our charter. Their attention has been engrossed by other affairs, and we have therefore longer time to operate in making such impressions, as may prevent a renewal of this particular attempt by our adversaries. With great esteem and respect, I have the honor to be, &c.

B. Franklin