A.D. 1773.] PUBLICATION OF WHATELY'S CORRESPONDENCE. of all articles of life was much increased. Reasonable as the demand was, lord North bluntly opposed it, but it was carried by a large majority against him, and he then as sented to the motion. At the same time colonel Barré was most invidiously passed over in brevet promotion; he had been formally dismissed from the service for his parliamentary conduct, but had been permitted to retain his half-pay and nominal rank, and had been assured by lord Barrington that he should receive brevet promotion in due course. On some young officers now being put over his head, by the advice of Pitt he tendered his entire resignation, which was laconically accepted by the king. As Barré had served with distinction in three quarters of the globe, this conduct of the government gave great disgust to all liberal men, as it showed that the ministry calculated on the implicit support of military or naval officers in parliament, or would punish them for any independence. The question of the thirty-nine articles was again discussed, and the public was now astonished to find the body of methodists take part with the rigid section of the church, and petition in favour of the maintenance of the articles against the dissenters. The public was not prepared for that display of conservatism which the ministers of the Wesleyan Methodists have always since manifested, and which they have firmly, as an ecclesiastical body, maintained over their own people. In the city, John Wilkes continued his agitation. He endeavoured to incite the corporation to present an address of congratulation to the king on the birth of a princess, the princess in question being a daughter born to the duke of Gloucester by his wife, whom George and the queen had ignored. Failing in this, he succeeded, however, in procuring an address to be presented complaining of the old grievances of the imprisonment of the lord mayor, the Middlesex elections, and praying for a dissolution of parliament and the dismissal of ministers. The king received the address with unconcealed resentment, and did not allow the city dignitaries the luxury of kissing hands. Meantime, the storm was rising in the American colonies again, with symptoms of wrath more ominous than ever. Whilst the ministers fondly fancied they had been conciliating, they had been putting the last touch to the work of alienation. Though there had appeared a lull in American affairs for some time, any one who was observant might have seen that all the old enmities were still working in the colonial mind, and that it would require little irritation to call them forth in even an aggravated form. Lord Hillsborough was no longer governor, but William Legge, lord Dartmouth. He was a man of a high character for upright and candid mind; Richardson said that he would be the perfect ideal of his Sir Charles Grandison, if he were not a methodist; and the poet Cowper, not objecting to his methodism, described him as "one who wears a coronet and prays." But lord Dartmouth, with all his superiority of temper and his piety, could not prevent the then stone-blind cabinet and infatuated king accomplishing the independence of America. Another favourable circumstance would have been found in the fact that in Hutchinson, Massachusetts had a native 101 governor, a man of courteous manners and moderate counsels. But even out of Hutchinson's position arose offence. His brothers-in-law, Andrew and Peter Oliver, were appointed lieutenant-governor and chief justice of the province. Lord North thought that the payment of these officers should be in the hands of government, to render them independent of the colonists; but this the colonists resented as an attempt to destroy the charter and establish arbitrary power. The Massachusetts' house of assembly declared on this occasion, in their address to the crown: "We know of no commissioners of his majesty's customs, nor of any revenue that his majesty has a right to establish in North America." They denounced the declaratory act passed at the suggestion of Chatham, and the attempt to make the governors and judges independent of the people, and the arbitrary instruments of the crown. In Virginia the same spirit was conspicuous. Whilst these things were fermenting in America, their faithful agent in England-Benjamin Franklin-was labouring in the same spirit. He published two articles in the "Public Advertiser "-the vehicle of Junius. One was styled "An Edict of the King of Prussia," calling on the English, as a Teutonic colony, to contribute to the Prussian revenue. The other was entitled "Rules for reducing a great Empire to a small one." It compared a great empire to a great cake, which was most easily diminished at the edges; and it recommended England to get rid of her remotest provinces, to make way for the rest following. But these were innocent squibs compared with the bombshell which Franklin now threw into the excited state of Massachusetts. During the years 1767, 1768, and 1769, Mr. Thomas Whately-at one time private secretary to Grenville, and several years under-secretary of state to lord Suffolk, but during these years out of office, and simply member of parliament-had maintained a private correspondence with governor Hutchinson, and his brother-in-law, Andrew Oliver, the lieutenant-governor. In these letters Hutchinson and Oliver had freely expressed to their old friend their views of the state of things in the colony; and, of course, said many things never intended to come to the public eye, or to operate officially. On the death of Whately, in 1772, some villain purloined these letters and conveyed them to Franklin. Who this dishonest firebrand was, was never discovered. Franklin pledged himself to secrecy, both as to the letters and as to the name of the person who so basely obtained them. The name of this person he faithfully kept; but the contents of the letters were too well calculated to create an irreconcilable rancour in the minds of the Americans, for him to resist the pleasure of communicating them to the Massachusetts assembly. He accordingly forwarded them to Mr. Curling, the speaker of the assembly. The whole mode of coming into possession of these papers has something in it revolting to all honourable minds. Franklin, aware of this, insisted that they should not be printed nor made public, but only circulated amongst a select few. But the same motives which had induced Franklin to break his pledged secrecy, operated on the assembly. They determined to make them public, and therefore pretended that other copies of them had reached them from England, and that they were thus absolved from all conditions of secrecy. This was totally false. The story was invented for the occasion, and the letters, without the name of Whately, to whom they had been addressed, were published by the assembly. It was left to be inferred by the public, that they had been sent officially to England by the governor and lieutenant-governor, and the assembly voted the writing of them ample evidence of a fixed design on the part of the English government to destroy the constitution and establish arbitrary power. A petition was dispatched to be presented by Franklin to the king, calling for the removal of Hutchinson and Oliver from their posts. When these letters were read under these false impressions, sentiments were found in them which assumed Oliver, in one, remarked-"If I have written with freedom, I consider I am writing to a friend, and that I am perfectly safe in opening myself to you." The whole of this transaction right-minded Americans would wish to blot from their annals, but they answered the purpose of Franklin, which, it is clear, was now to sever the union betwixt the mother country and colonies at any cost, even of those of honour and upright principle. When these letters were published in America, their real character concealed, and every means taken to represent them as official dispatches to the officers of government in England, the public rage was uncontrollable. A committee was formed to wait on governor Hutchinson, and demand whether he owned the handwriting. Hutchinson freely owned to that, but contended very justly that the letters person. Notwithstanding, the House of Assembly drew up a strong remonstrance to the English government, charging the governor and lieutenant-governor with giving false and malicious information respecting the colony, and demanding their dismissal. a wholly exaggerated character, and the flame produced were of a thoroughly private character, and to an unofficial was, as Franklin and the assembly intended, of the most furious kind. In one of them, Hutchinson said, "I doubt whether it is possible to project a system of government, in which a colony, three thousand miles from the parent state, shall enjoy all the liberty of the parent state. I wish the good of the colony when I wish to see some further This remonstrance, accompanied by copies of the letters. restraint on liberty, rather than that the connection with themselves, was immediately dispatched over all the colonies, the parent state should be broken." Such sentiments, ad- and everywhere produced, as was intended, the most dressed in strict confidence to a private friend, were innocent violent inflammation of the public mind against England. enough, but read as addressed by their governor to the The Bostonians had for some time established what was English cabinet, they appeared most mischievous. Yet called a corresponding committee, whose business it was to there were plenty of evidences in them to have convinced prepare and circulate through the whole of the colonies any calm readers-which the people of Massachusetts were papers calculated to keep alive the indignation against the not-that they were only private confidential observations English government. This committee quickly was re sponded to by other committees in different places, and soon the plan became an organisation extending to every part of the colonies, even the most remote, by which intelligence and arguments were circulated through all America with wonderful celerity. From this sprang one general tone of feeling, and that tone, it is not be denied, was essentially revolutionary. Not a man who adhered to the mother country could travel anywhere but his presence was announced from these committees; he was marked, and he was often insulted. 103 Dudingston fired a shot across her bows, and, on her paying no regard to that, gave chase. The packet, however, ran close in shore, and the Gaspee following too eagerly, ran aground. It was on a sandy bottom, and the return of the tide would have lifted her off undamaged; but the smuggling population of Providence put off to her in the night, whilst she lay in a position so as to be incapable of using her guns, surprised, boarded, and set fire to her, carrying the lieutenant and crew triumphantly on shore. nies till it had well reinforced its military strength | Indians, who hurried down to Griffin's Wharf, where the there. This, the most important of all measures, under the tea ships lay, and rushing tumultuously on board, and circumstances, never appeared to occur to the English king hoisting out the tea chests, emptied them into the sea amid or ministry; and this country, which had forced such much triumph and noise. Having thus destroyed teas to hundreds of thousands of men into the Netherland and the amount of eighteen thousand pounds, the mob retreated German wars, neglected most insanely to transport to this to their houses; but, says John Adams, in his private diary, scene of insubordination a military power amply capable of " many persons wished that as many dead carcases were supporting its authority. floating in the harbour as there were chests of tea." The rancour of the Bostonians had reached the blood heat. Governor Hutchinson hastened to inform his government of what had taken place, and to assure it that it had not been in his power to prevent the destruction of the tea, unless he had yielded the authority reposed in him by the crown of England. It never seems to have occurred to Hutchinson to call out the troops and land the goods under their protection. In the whole of this contest with the American colonies it will be seen that nothing could exceed the weakness of the governors there, the miserable mediocrity of the commanders, or the headstrong fatuity of the govern When such acts as the burning of the Gaspee had been done with impunity, and whilst the American mind was rankling with all the Franklin poison of the purloined letters, three vessels arrived at Boston, laden with tea, under the conditions of lord North's bill. These ships had been for some time expected; and tumultuous meetings had been held, and mobs had assembled menacing the houses of the consignees with destruction. On their not assenting to send back the tea, their windows had been broken, their doors forced in, and themselves compelled to flee to Castle William for safety. or sending out irritating orders, without taking the necessary precautions of having force in the colonies capable of supporting the executive in its functions. On the arrival of the ships the commotion was intense.ment at home, which was continually passing irritating acts, Another meeting was held, to which the people of the neighbouring towns flocked in; and a resolution which had been passed at Philadelphia, that the tea ships were sent to enslave and poison the free men of America, was unanimously adopted; and it was agreed that the tea should not be landed, but be sent back again. The consignees proposed that the tea should be allowed to come on shore, and be stowed in locked-up warehouses till further instructions should arrive, as had been done at Charleston; but this proposal was rejected with indignation. The Bostonians filled the streets in riotous mobs, menacing in the most deadly manner not only the captains of the tea ships, but all who should give them any assistance. The mob was armed with muskets, rifles, swords, and cutlasses, and kept guard on the port day and night to prevent the landing of the teas. The captains themselves would gladly have sailed away with their obnoxious cargoes in safety, but the governor very foolishly gave orders that they should not pass the ports without a permit from himself, and he sent admiral Montague to guard the passages out of the harbour with two ships of war. Whatever the pretences of the Bostonians might be-and they still protested that they desired to remain a dependence of England-their acts now were revolutionary. The home government was set at defiance by arms; and it would have been sufficient for the tea ships to have returned and reported their inability to remain in the port of Boston without certain destruction of cargo, to have called forth the executive powers of the nation. A meeting was held in Boston on the 16th of December, at which Josiah Quincey, junior, told the people that the contest must end in bullets and cannon balls; that they who imagined that shouts and hosannas could terminate the trials of the day, deceived themselves. A message was sent from the meeting demanding of the governor that the ships should be sent home again, and, on the governor refusing, a man, disguised as an Indian, gave a wild war-whoop in the meeting, and the meeting hastened to separate. The parliament opened its session on the 13th of January, 1774. There were the usual questions mooted as to the amount of the navy, the motion of alderman Sawbridge for the shortening of parliaments, and for inquiring into the acts of government regarding the Middlesex election. But the chief measure passed was the bill for rendering perpetual the act of Grenville for referring questions regarding controverted elections to committee, which was passed by two hundred and fifty votes to one hundred and twenty-two against government. Lord North, with his usual impolicy, was decided against rendering this useful act necessary, and found himself deserted by a whole host of the usual supporters of ministers. Such a blind and unpopular act would have broken up North's cabinet, had not the news arrived from Boston and engaged the passions of the nation on the same side with him. On the 7th of March the king sent a message to both houses, announcing the proceedings at Boston, the destruction of the teas; and a mass of papers was sent down to the house of commons, including the dispatches of governor Hutchinson, of admiral Montague, letters from the consignees of the teas, and other communications from governors and officers of the other colonies, with copies of the numerous inflammatory handbills, pamphlets, manifestoes, &c., which had been circulated in America. The sensation was intense. A warm debate ensued as to the course of action necessary, and an address to the king was agreed to, strongly condemning the conduct of the Rhode Islanders and the Bostonians. At this juncture, Mr. Bollan, the agent for the Massachusetts council, begged to lay before the house of commons the charters of queen Elizabeth and her successors, securing the liberties of that colony. The charters were received and laid on the table. The news from Boston could not have arrived at a But it separated only to reassemble again in a different moment when the public mind was more ill-disposed shape. As the evening grew dark, those who had quitted towards the Americans. The affair of the abstraction of the meeting were met by whole mobs arrayed as wild | Mr. Whately's private letters from his house or office, and A.D. 1774.] PETITION OF MASSACHUSETTS TO THE PRIVY COUNCIL. 105 himself the author of all. I can compare him only to Zanga, in Dr. Young's 'Revenge:" Know, then, 'twas I; I forged the letter-I disposed the picture- their publication, contrary to all custom and to its own engagement, by the Massachusetts assembly, had produced a deep conviction in all classes in England of the utter disregard of honour both in the American colonists and of their agent, Franklin. This disgraceful violation of the sacred security of private papers roused the indignation. I ask, my lords, whether the revengeful temper attributed to of Mr. William Whately, banker, in Lombard-street, and the bloody African is not surpassed by the coolness and apathy of the wily American?" brother to the late Mr. Thomas Whately. He conceived If In consequence of these circumstances, occasion was taken, on the presentation of the petition of the people of Boston, for the removal of the governor and lieutenant of Massachusetts, to the privy council, to animadvert severely on Franklin's conduct. This took place on the 29th of January, when Dunning and Lee were retained on the part of the petition, and Wedderburn, the solicitor-general, appeared for the crown. There were no less than thirty-five privy councillors present, amongst them lord North, and lord Gower at their head, as lord president. There was an intense excitement on the occasion, and a severe crush to obtain entrance; and, amongst the persons struggling in, were Burke and Dr. Priestley. Priestley, in a letter, describes the effect of Wedderburn's address as received with what must seem a mad merriment by the council. "Mr. Wedderburn had a complete triumph. At the sallies of his sarcastic wit, all the members of the council, the president himself, lord Gower, not excepted, the council behaved himself with decent gravity, except lord frequently laughed outright; and no person belonging to North, who came in late." Franklin is said to have felt so keenly the invectives of Wedderburn and the laughter of the council, that from that day he resolved to himself to do his utmost to effect the separation of the colonies. That the not undeserved castigation which he received did deepen the feeling, is most probable, but the feeling had evidently been long in his bosom, and all his actions showed it. It is added, that from that hour he carefully laid by the dress of figured Manchester velvet, which he wore on that occasion, until the day on which he signed the treaty which acknowledged the independence of the United States. Yet, both Franklin and the other leaders of the colonists still kept on the mask of moderation, and of a pretended desire to retain the union with the mother country, though we have it, on the authority of Adam Smith, that Franklin said, with much triumph, in the presence of a particular friend of his, that, "whatever measures Great Britain might choose to pursue, whether mild or rigorous, they would equally tend to bring about that great and desirable event-the entire independence of America.” The privy council decided that the petition from Massachusetts was framed on false and exaggerated allegations, and was groundless, vexatious, and scandalous. Two days afterwards, the king dismissed Franklin from the office, which he had till now held, of deputy - postmaster of America-a circumstance calculated to deepen his animosity, for, from all that we can gather from Franklin's writings, he had a much deeper and more lively idea of the value of money than of the value of high principles in matters of diplomacy. Neither Dunning nor Lee spoke effectively, but as if they by no means relished the cause in which they were engaged; while Wedderburn seemed animated by extraordinary life and bitterness. He was the friend of Whately, who was now And what were the measures which the British governlying in a dangerous state from his wound. After speaking ment resorted to in order to reduce the rebellious colonies of the charter and the insubordinate temper of the people to obedience? The obvious measure was to send out fresh of Massachusetts, he fell with withering sarcasm on troops, and to maintain such a garrison in all the great seaFranklin, who was present. "Hitherto," he said, "private ports as should back the civil authorities in just and prudent correspondence had been held sacred, even in times of acts. But it has been well observed by a modern historian, the most rancorous party fury. But here was a gentle- that however the separation of America must have occurred man who had a high rank amongst philosophers, and should at some later period, its severance then was the work "of be the last to sanction such infamous breaches of honour, the most marvellous and incredulous combination of openly avowing his concern in them. He asked where, henceforth, Dr. Franklin could show his face; that henceforth he must deem it a libel to be termed ‘a man of letters.' Amidst tranquil events, here is a man who, with the utmost insensibility of remorse, starts up and avows accident, craft, imbecility, and madness," that ever arose. Instead of strengthening its power, the government hastened to pass a series of bills, each more calculated to enrage the Bostonians than another, without thinking of a single means of enforcing these bills. So far from this enforce |