not give his assent to the bill.
" There was no bill, my lord ; it was a vote of the
House.
" There was a bill presented to the governor for the
purpose of appointing you and another, one Dr. Lee 1
think he is called, to which the governor refused his
assent.
154 BENJAMIN 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 ?
" I will convince you of it directly ; Mr. Pownall will
come in and satisfy you."
So Mr. Pownall, invoked by the official bell,
appeared upon the scene. But he could not play
his part; he was obliged to say that there was
no such letter. This was awkward; but Franklin
was too civil or too prudent to triumph in the
discomfiture of the other. He simply offered the
"authentic copy of the vote of the House" ap
pointing him, and asked if his lordship would
"please to look at it." His lordship took the
paper unwillingly, and then, without looking at
it, said :
" An information of this kind is not properly brought
to me as secretary of state. The board of trade is the
proper place.
" I will leave the paper then with Mr. Pownall to
be
" (Hastily.) To what end would you leave it with
him ?
"To be entered on the minutes of the board, as usual.
" (Angrily.) It shall not be entered there. No such
paper shall be entered there while I have anything to do
with the business of that board. The House of Repre
sentatives 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
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 155
is one agent appointed by the Council, another by the
House of Representatives. 1 Which of these is agent for
the province ? Who are we to hear in provincial affairs ?
An agent appointed by act of Assembly we can under
stand. No other will be attended to for the future, I
can assure you.
" 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
" (With a mixed look of anger and contempt.} I
shall not enter into a dispute with V/OM, Sir, upon this
subject.
" I beg your lordship s pardon ; I do not mean to
dispute with your lordship. I would only say that it
appears to me that every body of men who cannot appear
in person, where business relating to them may be trans
acted, should have a right to appear by an agent. The
concurrence of the governor does not seem to be neces
sary. It is the business of the people that is to be
done ; he is not one of them ; he is himself an agent.
" (Hastily.} Whose agent is he ?
" The king s, my lord.
" 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 in
structions.
" I did not know there had been such instructions.
I am not concerned in any offense against them, and
1 The agent for the Council, Mr. Bollan, acted in entire accord
with Dr. Franklin ; there was no inconsistency between the two
offices, which were altogether distinct, neither any clashing be
tween the incumbents, as might be inferred from Lord Hillsbor-
ough s language.
156 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
" Yes, your offering such a paper to be entered is an
offense against them. No such appointment shall be en
tered. When I came into the administration of Amer
ican 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,
requires it of me. If that conduct is not approved, they
may take that office from me when they please : I shall
make them a bow and thank them ; I shall resign with
pleasure. That gentleman [Mr. Pownall] knows it ;
but while I continue in it I shall resolutely persevere in
the same firmness."
Speaking thus, his lordship seemed warm, and
grew pale, as if "angry at something or somebody
besides the agent, and of more consequence to
himself." Franklin thereupon, taking back his
credentials, said, speaking with an innuendo aimed
at that which had not been expressed, but which
lay plainly visible behind his lordship s pallor and
excitement :
" I beg your lordship s pardon for taking up so much
of your lordship s time. It is, I believe, of no great
importance whether the appointment is acknowledged or
not, for T 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 further trouble."
Therewith he made his exit, and went home to
write the foregoing sketch of the scene. Certainly
throughout so irritating an interview he had con-
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 157
ducted himself with creditable self-restraint and
moderation, yet with his closing sentence he had
sent home a dart which rankled. He soon heard
that his lordship "took great offense " at these last
words, regarding them as "extremely rude and
abusive," and as "equivalent to telling him to his
face that the colonies could expect neither favor
nor justice during his administration." "I find,"
adds Franklin, with placid satisfaction in the skill
with which he had shot his bolt, "I find he did
not mistake me."
So Franklin retained the gratification which
lies in having administered a stinging and appre
ciated retort ; a somewhat empty and entirely
personal gratification, it must be admitted. Hills-
borough kept the substance of victory, inasmuch
as he persisted in refusing to recognize Frank
lin as the agent of the Massachusetts Bay. Yet
in this he did not annihilate, indeed very slightly
curtailed, Franklin s usefulness. It merely signi
fied that Franklin ceased to be an official conduit
for petitions and like communications. His weight
and influence, based upon his knowledge and pres
tige, remained unimpugned. In a word, it was
of little consequence that the lord secretary would
not acknowledge him as the representative of one
province, so long as all England practically treated
him as the representative of all America.
From this time forth, of course, there was war
fare between the secretary and the unacknowledged
agent. Franklin began to entertain a "very mean
158 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
opinion" of Hillsborough s "abilities and fitness
for his station. His character is conceit, wrong-
headedness, obstinacy, and passion. Those who
speak most favorably of him allow all this ; they
only add that he is an honest man and means well.
If that be true, as perhaps it may, I only wish
him a better place, where only honesty and well-
meaning are required, and where his other quali
ties can do no harm. ... I hope, however, that
our affairs will not much longer be perplexed and
embarrassed by his perverse and senseless man
agement." But for the present Franklin was of
opinion that it would be well "to leave this omnis
cient, infallible minister to his own devices, and
be no longer at the expense of sending any agent,
whom he can displace by a repeal of the appoint
ing act."
Hillsborough s theory was adopted by the board
of trade, and Franklin therefore remained practi
cally stripped of the important agency for Massa
chusetts. He anticipated that this course would
soon put an end to all the colonial agencies ; but
he said that the injury would be quite as great
to the English government as to the colonies, for
the agents had often saved the cabinet from intro
ducing, through misinformation, "mistaken mea
sures," which it would afterward have found to
be "very inconvenient." He expressed his own
opinion that when the colonies "came to be con
sidered in the light of distinct states, as I conceive
they really are, possibly their agents may be
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 159
treated with more respect and considered more as
public ministers." But this was a day-dream; the
current was setting in quite the opposite direction.
In point of fact, Massachusetts seems to have
taken no detriment from this foolish and captious
bit of chicanery. All the papers and arguments
which she had occasion to have presented always
found their way to their destination as well as
they would have done if Franklin had been ac
knowledged as the quasi public minister, which he
conceived to be his proper character.
Franklin perfectly appreciated that Hillsbor-
ough retained his position by precarious tenure.
He shrewdly suspected that if the war with Spain,
which then seemed imminent, were to break out,
Hillsborough would at once be removed. For in
that case it would be the policy of the government
to conciliate the colonies, at any cost, for the time
being. This crisis passed by, fortunately for the
secretary and unfortunately for the provinces.
Yet still the inefficient and ill-friended minister
remained very infirm in his seat. An excuse only
was needed to displace him, and by a singular and
unexpected chance Franklin furnished that excuse.
It was the humble and discredited colonial agent
who unwittingly but not unwillingly gave the jar
which toppled the great earl into retirement. His
fall when it came gave general satisfaction. His
unfitness for his position had become too obvious
to be denied; he had given offense in quarters
where he should have made friends; he had irri-
160 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
tated the king and provoked the cabinet. Frank
lin, with his observant sagacity, quickly divined
that George III. was "tired" of Hillsborough and
u of his administration, which had weakened the
affection and respect of the colonies for a royal
government;" and accordingly he "used proper
means from time to time that his majesty should
have due information and convincing proofs " of
this effect of his lordship s colonial policy.
It was, however, upon a comparatively trifling
matter that Hillsborough finally lost his place. It
has been already mentioned that many years be
fore this time Franklin had urged the establish
ment of one or two frontier, or "barrier," pro
vinces in the interior. He had never abandoned
this scheme, and of late had been pushing it with
some prospect of success ; for among other encour
aging features he astutely induced three privy
councilors to become financially interested in the
project. The original purpose of the petitioners
had been to ask for only 2,500,000 acres of land;
but Hillsborough bade them ask for "enough to
make a province." This advice was grossly dis
ingenuous ; for Hillsborough himself afterward
admitted that from the beginning he had intended
to defeat the application, and had put the memo
rialists "upon asking so much with that very view,
supposing it too much to be granted." But they,
not suspecting, fell into the trap and increased
their demand to 23,000,000 acres, certainly a
sufficient quantity to call for serious consideration.
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 161
When the petition came before the board of trade,
Lord HilLsborough, who was president of the
board, took upon himself the task of rendering
a report. To the surprise of the petitioners, who
had reason to suppose him well inclined, he re
plied adversely. The region was so far away, he
said, that it would not "lie within the reach of
the trade and commerce of this kingdom; " so far,
also, as not to admit of "the exercise of that
authority and jurisdiction . . . necessary for the
preservation of the colonies in due subordination
to and dependence upon the mother country."
The territory appeared, "upon the fullest evi
dence," to be "utterly inaccessible to shipping,"
and therefore the inhabitants would "probably be
led to manufacture for themselves, ... a con
sequence ... to be carefully guarded against."
Also part belonged to the Indians, who ought not
to be disturbed, and settlements therein would
of course lead to Indian wars and to "fighting for
every inch of the ground." Further, the occupa
tion of this tract "must draw and carry out a great
number of people from Great Britain," who would
soon become "a kind of separate and independent
people, . . . and set up for themselves," meeting
their own wants and taking no "supplies from the
mother country nor from the provinces " along the
seaboard. At so great a distance from "the seat
of government, courts, magistrates, etc.," the ter
ritory would "become a receptacle and kind of
asylum for offenders," full of crime itself, and
162 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
encouraging crime elsewhere. This disorderly
population would soon "become formidable enough
to oppose his majesty s authority, disturb govern
ment, and even give law to the other or first-settled
part of the country, and thus throw everything
into confusion." Such arguments were as feeble
as they were bodeful. The only point which his
lordship really scored was in reply to Franklin s
theory of the protection against the Indians which
these colonies would afford to those on the sea
board. Hillsborough well said that the new
settlements themselves would stand most in need
of protection. It was only advancing, not elimi
nating, a hostile frontier.
Evidently it required no very able reasoning,
coming from the president of the board, to per
suade his subordinates; and this foolish report
was readily adopted. But Franklin was not so
easily beaten; the privy council furnished one
more stage at which he could still make a fight.
He drew up a reply to Lord Hillsborough s paper
and submitted it to that body. It was a long and
very carefully prepared document ; it dealt in facts
historical and statistical, in which the report was
utterly deficient; it furnished evidence and illus
tration; in arguing upon probabilities it went far
toward demolishing the theories advanced by the
president of the board. The two briefs were laid
before a tribunal in which three men sat who
certainly ought not to have been sitting in this
cause, since Franklin s interest was also their
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 163
own ; but probably this did not more than coun
terbalance the prestige of official position in the
opposite scale. Certainly Franklin had followed
his invariable custom of furnishing his friends
with ample material to justify them in befriending
him. In this respect he always gallantly stood
by his own side. The allies whom at any time he
sought he always abundantly supplied with plain
facts and sound arguments, in which weapons he
always placed his chief trust. So at present, what
ever was the motive which induced privy coun
cilors to open their ears to what Franklin had to
say, after they had heard him they could not easily
decide against him. Nor had those of them who
were personally disinterested any great induce
ment to do so, since, though some of them may
have disliked him, none of them had any great
liking for his noble opponent. So they set aside
the report of the board of trade. 1
Upon this Lord Hillsborough fell into a hot
rage, and sent in his resignation. It was gen
erally understood that he had no notion that it
would be accepted, or that he would be allowed to
leave upon such a grievance. He fancied that he
was establishing a dilemma which would impale
Franklin. But he was in error; he himself was
impaled. No one expostulated with him; he was
left to exercise "the Christian virtue of resigna
tion " without hindrance. Franklin said that the
1 A very interesting statement of these proceedings may be
found in Franklin s Works, x. 340.
164 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
anticipation of precisely this result, so far from
being an obstacle in the way of his own success,
had been an additional incitement to the course
taken by the council.
So the earl, the enemy of America, went out;
and the colonial agent had shown him the door,
with all England looking on. It was a mortifica
tion which Hillsborough could never forgive, and
upon four occasions, when Franklin made the
conventional call to pay his respects, he did not
find his lordship at home. At his fifth call he
received from a lackey a very plain intimation
that there was no chance that he ever would find
the ex-secretary at home, and thereafter he de
sisted from the forms of civility. "I have never
since," he said, "been nigh him, and we have
only abused one another at a distance." Franklin
had fully balanced one account at least.
So far as the special matter in hand was con
cerned, the worsting of Hillsborough, though a
gratification, did not result in the bettering of
Franklin and his co-petitioners. April 6, 1773,
he wrote: "The affair of the grant goes on but
slowly. I do not yet clearly see land. I begin
to be a little of the sailor s mind, when they were
landing a cable out of a store into a ship, and one
of em said: c T is a long heavy cable, I wish we
could see the end of it. Damn me, says an
other, if I believe it has any end ; somebody has
cut it off. A cable twisted of British red tape
was indeed a coil without an end. In this case,
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 165
before the patent was granted, Franklin had be
come so unpopular, and the Revolution so immi
nent, that the matter was dropped by a sort of
universal consent.
Franklin rejoiced in this departure of Hills-
borough as a good riddance of a man whom he
thought to be as "double and deceitful" as any
one he had ever met. It is possible that, as he
had been instrumental in creating the vacancy, he
may also have assisted in some small degree in
disposing of the succession. One day he was
complaining of Hillsborough to a "friend at
court," when the friend replied that Hillsborough
was wont to represent the Americans "as an un
quiet people, not easily satisfied with any minis
try; that, however, it was thought too much occa
sion had been given them to dislike the present; "
and the question was asked whether, in case of
Hillsborough s removal, Franklin "could name
another likely to be more acceptable " to his coun
trymen. He at once suggested Lord Dartmouth.
This was the appointment which was now made,
in August, 1772, and the news of which gave
much satisfaction to all the "friends of America."
For Dartmouth was of kindly disposition, and
when previously president of the board of trade
had shown a liberal temper in provincial affairs.
The relationship between Franklin and Lord
Dartmouth opened auspiciously. Franklin waited
upon him at his first levee, at the close of Octo
ber, 1772, and was received "very obligingly."
166 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Further Franklin was at once recognized as agent
for Massachusetts, with no renewal of the caviling
as to the manner of his appointment, from which
he hopefully augured that "business was getting
into a better train." A month later he reported
himself as being still "upon very good terms"
with the new minister, who, he had "reason to
think, meant well by the colonies." So Dart
mouth did, undoubtedly, and if the best of in
tentions and of feelings could have availed much
at this stage of affairs, Franklin and his lordship
might have postponed the Revolution until the
next generation. But it was too late to counter
act the divergent movements of the two nations,
and no better proof could be desired of the degree
to which this divergence had arrived than the fact
itself that the moderate Franklin and the well-
disposed Dartmouth could not come into accord.
Each people had declared its political faith, its
fundamental theory; and the faith and theory of
the one were fully and fairly adverse to those of
the other ; and the instant that the talk went deep
enough, this irreconcilable difference was sure to
be exposed.
During the winter of 1772-73, following Lord
Dartmouth s appointment, a lively dispute arose in
y Massachusetts between the Assembly and Governor
/ Hutchinson. It was the old question, whether the
,/ English Parliament had control in matters of co-
| lonial taxation. The governor made speeches and
said Yea, while the Assembly passed resolutions
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 167
and said Nay. The early ships, arriving in Eng
land in the spring of 1773, brought news of this
dispute, which seemed to have been indeed a hot
one. The English ministry were not pleased; they
wanted to keep their relationship with the colonies
tranquil for a while, because there was a renewal
of the danger of a war with Spain. Therefore
they were vexed at the over-zeal of Hutchinson ;
and Lord Dartmouth frankly said so. Franklin
called one day upon the secretary and found him
much perplexed at the "difficulties" into which
the governor had brought the ministers by his " im
prudence." Parliament, his lordship said, could
not "suffer such a declaration of the colonial As
sembly, asserting its independence, to pass unno
ticed." Franklin thought otherwise : "It is words
only," he said; "acts of Parliament are still sub
mitted to there; " and so long as such was the case
"Parliament would do well to turn a deaf ear.
. . . Force could do no good." Force, it was re
plied, might not be thought of, but rather an act
to lay the colonies "under some inconveniences,
till they rescind that declaration." Could they
by no possibility be persuaded to withdraw it?
Franklin was clearly of opinion that the resolve
could only be withdrawn after the withdrawal of
the speech which it answered, "an awkward oper
ation, which perhaps the governor would hardly
be directed to perform." As for an act establish
ing "inconveniences," probably it would only put
the colonies, "as heretofore, on some method of
168 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
incommoding this country till the act is repealed ;
and so we shall go on injuring and provoking
each other instead of cultivating that good will
and harmony so necessary to the general welfare."
Divisions, his lordship admitted, "must weaken
the whole; for we are yet one empire, whatever
may be the opinions of the Massachusetts As
sembly." But how to escape divisions was the
conundrum. Could his lordship withhold from
Parliament the irritating documents, though in
fact they were already notorious, and "hazard the
being called to account in some future session of
Parliament for keeping back the communication
of dispatches of such importance? " He appealed
to Franklin for advice; but Franklin would
undertake to give none, save that, in his opinion,
if the dispatches should be laid before Parlia
ment, it would be prudent to order them to lie on
the table. For, he said, "were I as much an
Englishman as I am an American, and ever so
desirous of establishing the authority of Parlia
ment, I protest to your lordship I cannot conceive
of a single step the Parliament can take to in
crease it that will not tend to diminish it, and
after abundance of mischief they must finally lose
it." So whenever the crucial test was applied
these two men found themselves utterly at vari
ance, and the hopelessness of a peaceful conclusion
would have been obvious, had not each shunned
a prospect so painful.
It must be confessed that, if Lord Dartmouth
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 169
was so pathetically desirous to undo an irrevo
cable past, Dr. Franklin was no less anxious for
the performance of a like miracle. Both the
statesman and the philosopher would have appre
ciated better the uselessness of their efforts, had
their feelings been less deeply engaged. Frank
lin s vain wish at this time was to move the
peoples of England and America back to the days
before the passage of the Stamp Act. "I have
constantly given it as my opinion," he wrote, early
in 1771, "that, if the colonies were restored to the
state they were in before the Stamp Act, they
would be satisfied and contend no farther." Two
and a half years later, following the fable of the
sibylline books, he expressed the more extreme
opinion that "the letter of the two houses of the
29th of June, proposing as a satisfactory measure
the restoring things to the state in which they
were at the conclusion of the late war, is a fair
and generous offer on our part, . . . and more
than Britain has a right to expect from us. ...
If she has any wisdom left, she will embrace it,
and agree with us immediately."
But the insuperable trouble was that, at the
close of the last war and before the passage of the
Stamp Act, the controversy upon the question of
right had been unborn. Now, having come into
being, this controversy could not be laid at rest by
a mere waiver; it was of that nature that its
resurrection would be sure and speedy. Anything