jurisdiction of Parliament. But they were not
enough ; they must be supplemented ; and a stamp
act was designed as the supplement. On March 9,
1764, Grenville stated his intention to introduce
such a bill at the next session; he needed the
interval for inquiries and preparation. It was
no very novel idea. It "had been proposed to Sir
Robert Walpole; it had been thought of by Pel-
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 105
ham ; it had been almost resolved upon in 1755 ;
it had been pressed upon Pitt ; it seems, beyond a
doubt, to have been a part of the system adopted
in the ministry of Bute, and it was sure of the
support of Charles Townshend. Knox, the agent
of Georgia, stood ready to defend it. ... The
agent of Massachusetts favored raising the wanted
money in that way." Little opposition was anti
cipated in Parliament, and none from the king.
In short, "everybody, who reasoned on the sub
ject, decided for a stamp tax." 1 Never did any
bill of any legislature seem to come into being
with better auspices. Some among the colonial
agents certainly expressed ill feeling towards it;
but Grenville silenced them, telling them that he
was acting "from a real regard and tenderness"
towards the Americans. He said this in perfect
good faith. His views both of the law and of the
reasons for the law were intelligent and honest;
he had carefully gathered information and sought
advice ; and he had a profound belief alike in the
righteousness and the wisdom of the measure.
News of what was in preparation in England
reached Pennsylvania in the summer of 1764,
shortly before Franklin sailed. The Assembly
debated concerning it; Franklin was prominent
in condemning the scheme; and a resolution pro
testing against it was passed. It was made part
of Franklin s duty in London to urge upon Gren
ville these views of Pennsylvania. But when he
1 Bancroft, Hist. U. S. iv. 155.
106 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
arrived he found that the grinding at the mills of
government was going on much too evenly to be
disturbed by the introduction of any such insig
nificant foreign substance as a colonial protest.
Nevertheless he endeavored to do what he could.
In company with three other colonial agents he
had an interview with Grenville, February 2,
1765, in which he urged that taxation by act of
Parliament was needless, inasmuch as any requisi
tion for the service of the king always had found,
and always would find, a prompt and liberal re
sponse on the part of the Assembly. Arguments,
however, and protests struck ineffectually against
the solid wall of Grenville s established purpose.
He listened with a civil appearance of interest
and dismissed his visitors and all memory of their
arguments together. On the 13th of the same
month he read the bill in Parliament; on the 27th
it passed the Commons; on March 8, the Lords;
and on March 22 it was signed by a royal com
mission; the insanity of the king saved him from
placing his own signature to the ill-starred law.
In July Franklin wrote to Charles Thomson :
" Depend upon it, my good neighbor, I took every
step in my power to prevent the passing of the Stamp
Act. Nobody could be more concerned and interested
than myself to oppose it sincerely and heartily. But
the tide was too strong against us. The nation was
provoked by American claims of independence, and all
parties joined in resolving by this act to settle the point.
We might as well have hindered the sun s setting.
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 107
That we could not do. But since it is down, my friend,
and it may be long before it rises again, let us make as
good a night of it as we can. We can still light candles.
Frugality and industry will go a great way towards in
demnifying us. Idleness and pride tax with a heavier
hand than kings and parliaments. If we can get rid of
the former, we may easily bear the latter."
In such a temper was he at this time, and so
remained until he got news of the first mutterings
of the storm in the colonies. His words show
a discouragement and despondency unusual with
him ; but what attracts remark is the philosophical
purpose to make the best even of so bad a busi
ness, the hopeless absence of any suggestion of a
further opposition, and that his only advice is
patient endurance. Unquestionably he did con
ceive the matter to be for the time settled. The
might of England was an awful fact, visible all
around him ; he felt the tremendous force of the
great British people; and he saw their immense
resources every day as he walked the streets of
busy, prosperous London. As he recalled the infant
towns and scattered villages of the colonies, how
could he contemplate forcible resistance to an edict
of Parliament and the king? Had Otis, Adams,
Henry, Gadsden, and the rest seen with their
bodily eyes what Franklin was seeing every day,
their words might have been more tempered.
Even a year later, in talk with a gentleman who
said that so far back as 1741 he had expressed an
opinion that the colonies "would one day release
108 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
themselves from England," Franklin answered,
" with his earnest, expressive, and intelligent
face: " "Then you were mistaken; the Americans
have too much love for their mother country;"
and he added that "secession was impossible, for
all the American towns of importance, Boston,
New York, and Philadelphia, were exposed to the
English navy. Boston could be destroyed by
bombardment." Near the same time he said to
Ingersoll of Connecticut, who was about departing
for the colonies : " Go home and tell your country
men to get children as fast as they can." By no
means without forebodings for the future, he was
yet far from fancying that the time had come when
physical resistance was feasible. It seemed still
the day for arguments, not for menaces.
To Franklin in this frame of mind, never
doubting that the act would be enforced, there
was brought a plausible message from Grenville.
The minister desired "to make the execution of
the act as little inconvenient and disagreeable to
America as possible," and to this end he preferred
to nominate as stamp distributers "discreet and
reputable " residents in the province, rather than
to send over strangers from Great Britain. Ac
cordingly he solicited a nomination from Franklin
of some "honest and responsible" man in Phila
delphia. Franklin readily named a trustworthy
merchant of his acquaintance, Mr. Hughes. The
Stamp Act itself hardly turned out a greater blun
der for Grenville than this well-meant suggestion
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 109
was near turning out for Franklin. When the
Philadelphians got news of the passage of the act,
the preparations for its enforcement, the nomi
nation of Mr. Hughes, and the fact that he had
been suggested by Franklin, the whole city rose
in a wild frenzy of rage. Never was such a sud
den change of feeling. He who had been their
trusted companion was now loudly reviled as a
false and truckling traitor. He was said to have
deserted his own, and to have gone over to the
minister s side; to have approved the odious law,
and to have asked that a position under it might
be given to his friend. The mobs ranging the
streets threatened to destroy the new house, in
which he had left his wife and daughter. The
latter was persuaded to seek safety in Burling
ton; but Mrs. Franklin, with admirable courage,
stayed in the house till the danger was over.
Some armed friends stood ready to assist if the
crisis should come, but fortunately it passed by.
All sorts of stories were spread concerning Frank
lin, even that it was he who had "planned the
Stamp Act;" and that he was endeavoring also
to get the Test Act introduced into the colonies !
A caricature represented the devil whispering into
his ear: "Ben, you shall be my agent throughout
my dominions."
Knowing Franklin s frame of mind, it is easy
to fancy the surprise with which he learned of the
spirit which had blazed forth in the colonies, and
of the violent doings in many places ; and we may
110 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
imagine the pain and mortification with which he
heard of the opinions expressed by his fellow citi
zens concerning his own action. He said little at
the time, so far as we know ; but many years after
wards he gave a narrative of his course in language
which was almost apologetic and deprecatory. A
pen in his fingers became a sympathetic instru
ment, and betrays sometimes what his moderate
language does not distinctly state. The intense,
bitter condemnation vented by his constituents,
who so lately had been following his lead, but who
now reviled a representative who had misrepre
sented them in so vital an affair, cut its way deep.
The gap between him and them did indeed
seem a wide one. In the colonies there was uni
versal wrath, oftentimes swelling into fury; in
some places mobs, much sacking of houses, hang
ings and burnings in effigy ; compulsion put upon
king s officers publicly to resign their offices; wild
threats and violence; obstruction to the distribu
tion of the stamped paper ; open menaces of forci
ble resistance, even of secession and rebellion; a
careful estimating of the available armed forces
among the colonies; the proposal for a congress
of colonies to promote community of action, to
protest, and to consult for the common cause; dis
obedient resolutions by legislatures; a spreading
of the spirit of colonial union by the general cry
of "Join or die; " agreements not to import or
use articles of English manufacture, with other
sunder ings of commercial relations. Far behind
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 111
this mad procession, of which the more moderate
divisions were marshaled by Otis, Sam Adams,
and Gadsden, and soon also by John Adams and
Patrick Henry, and by many other well-known
"patriots," Franklin appeared to be a laggard in
the rear distance, with disregarded arguments and
protests, with words of moderation, even counsels
of submission, nay, actually with a sort of con
nivance in the measure by the nomination of an
official under it.
Yet the intervening space was not so great as
it appeared. There was nothing in the counsels
of the reasonable and intelligent "patriots" which
was repugnant to Franklin s opinions. So soon as
he saw the ground upon which they had placed
themselves, he made haste to come into position
with them. It was fortunate indeed that the tran
sient separation was closed again before it could
lead to the calamity of his removal from his office.
For no man or even combination of men, whom it
was possible to send from the provinces, could
have done them the services which Franklin was
about to render. Besides the general power of
his mind, he had peculiar fitnesses. He was
widely known and very highly esteemed in Eng
land, where he moved in many circles. Among
members of the nobility, among men high in office,
among members of Parliament, among scientific
men and literary men, among men of business
and affairs, and among men who made a business
of society, he was always welcome. In that city
112 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
in which dinners constituted so important an ele
ment in life, even for the most serious purposes,
he was the greatest of diners-out; while at the
coffee-houses, clubs, and in the old-fashioned tav
ern circles no companion was more highly esteemed
than he. He consorted not only with friends of
the colonies, but was, and for a long time contin
ued to be, on intimate terms of courteous inter
course also with those who were soon to be de
scribed as their enemies. Each and all, amid this
various and extensive acquaintance, listened to
him with a respect no tithe of which could have
been commanded by any other American then
living. The force of his intelligence, the scope of
his understanding, the soundness of his judgment,
had already been appreciated by men accustomed
to study and to estimate the value of such traits.
His knowledge of American affairs, of the trade
and business of the provinces, of the characteris
tics of the people in different parts of the country,
was very great, because of his habit of shrewd
observation, of his taste for practical matters, and
of his extensive travels and connections as post
master. Add to this that he had a profound affec
tion for the mother country, which was not only a
tradition and a habit, but a warm and lively at
tachment nourished by delightful personal experi
ence, by long residence and numerous friendships,
by gratifying appreciation of and compliments to
himself. No one could doubt his sincerity when
he talked of his love for England as a real and
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 113
influential sentiment. At the same time he was
an American and a patriot. Though he had
failed to anticipate the state of feeling which the
Stamp Act begot, it was his only failure of this
kind; generally he spoke the sentiments of the
colonists with entire truth and sympathy. He
was one who could combine force with modera
tion in the expression of his views, the force being
all the greater for the moderation ; he had an
admirable head to conceive an argument, a tongue
and pen to state it clearly and pointedly. He
had presence of mind in conversation, was ready
and quick at fence ; he was widely learned ; he was
a sounder political economist than any member
of the English government; above all, he had
an unrivaled familiarity with the facts, the argu
ments, and the people on both sides of the con
troversy; he kept perfect control of his temper,
without the least loss of earnestness ; and had the
rare faculty of being able to state his own side with
plain force, and yet without giving offense. Such
were his singular qualifications, which soon enabled
him to perform the greatest act of his public life.
Matters came by degrees into better shape for
the colonies. In politics any statesman has but
to propose a measure to find it opposed by those
who oppose him. So what had seemed an uni
versal willingness to levy internal taxes upon the
colonies soon lost this aspect. No sooner did the
news from the angry colonies bring the scheme
into prominence than the assaults upon it became
114 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
numerous, and enemies of Grenville became friends
of America. Arguments so obvious and so strong
as those against the measure were eagerly made
the most of by the opponents of the men who were
in office. Among these opponents was Pitt, that
formidable man before whom all trembled. Gout
had disabled him, but who could tell when he
might get sufficient respite to return and deal
havoc? Yet in spite of all that was said, the
ministry seemed impregnable. Grenville was
very able, always of a stubborn temper, and in
this especial case convinced to the point of inten
sity that the right lay with him ; moreover, he was
complete master in Parliament, where his author
ity seemed still to increase steadily. No man
was sanguine enough to see hope for the colonies,
when suddenly an occurrence, which in this age
could not appreciably affect the power of an Eng
lish premier, snapped Grenville s sway in a few
days. This was only the personal pique of the
king, irritated by complaints made by the Duke
of Bedford about the favorite, Bute. For such a
cause George III. drove out of office, upon grounds
of his own dislike, a prime minister and cabinet
with whom he was in substantial accord upon the
most important public matters then under consid
eration, and although it was almost impossible to
patch together any tolerably congruous or com
petent body of successors.
Pitt endeavored to form a cabinet, but was
obliged, with chagrin, to confess his inability.
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 115
At last the Duke of Cumberland succeeded in
forming the so-called Rockingham Cabinet, a weak
combination, but far less unfavorable than its
predecessor towards America. The Marquis of
Rockingham, as prime minister, had Edmund
Burke as his private secretary; while General
Conway, one of the very few who had opposed the
Stamp Act, now actually received the southern
department of state within which the colonies were
included. Still there seemed little hope for any
undoing of the past, which probably would never
have been wrung from this or any British ministry
so long as all the discontent was on the other side
of three thousand miles of ocean. But this was
ceasing to be the case. The American weapon of
non-importation was proving most efficient. In
the provinces the custom of wearing mourning
was abandoned; no one killed or ate lamb, to the
end that by the increase of sheep the supply of
wool might be greater; homespun was now the
only wear ; no man would be seen clad in English
cloth. In a word, throughout America there was
established what would now be called a thorough
and comprehensive "boycott" against all articles
of English manufacture. So very soon the man
ufacturers of the mother country began to find
themselves the only real victims of the Stamp Act.
In America it was inflicting no harm, but rather
was encouraging economy, enterprise, and domestic
industry; while the sudden closing of so enormous
a market brought loss and bankruptcy to many
116 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
an English manufacturer and warehouseman.
Shipping, too, was indirectly affected. An outcry
for the change of a disastrous policy swelled
rapidly in the manufacturing and trading towns;
and erelong the battle of the colonists was being
fought by allies upon English soil, who were stim
ulated by the potent impulse of self-preservation.
These men cared nothing for the principle at
stake, nothing for the colonists personally; but
they cared for the business by which they sustained
their own homes, and they were resolved that the
destroying Stamp Act should be got out of their
way. Such an influence was soon felt. Death
also came in aid of the Americans, removing in
good time the Duke of. Cumberland, the merciless
conqueror of Culloden, who now was all ready to
fight it out with the colonies, and only thus lost
the chance to do so.
Beneath the pressure of these events concession
began to be talked of, though at first of course its
friends were few and its enemies many. Charles
Townshend announced himself able to contemplate
with equanimity the picture of the colonies relaps
ing "to their primitive deserts." But the trouble
was that little deserts began to spot the face of
England; and still the British merchant, who sel
dom speaks long in vain, was increasing his clamor,
and did not fancy the prospect of rich trading
fields reduced to desolation. In January, 1766,
too, the dreaded voice of Pitt again made itself
heard in St. Stephen s, sending forth an eloquent
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 117
harangue for America: "The Americans are the
sons, not the bastards, of England. As subjects
they are entitled to the common right of represen
tation, and cannot be bound to pay taxes without
their consent. Taxation is no part of the govern
ing power. 1 The taxes are a voluntary gift and
grant by the Commons alone. In an American tax
what do we do? We, your Majesty s Commons
of Great Britain, give and grant to your Majesty
- what ? Our own property? No ! we give
and grant to your Majesty the property of your
Majesty s commons in America. It is an absurd
ity in terms." 2 "The idea of a virtual represen
tation of America in this House is the most con
temptible that ever entered into the head of man."
"I never shall own the justice of taxing America
internally until she enjoys the right of represen
tation." Not very many men in either house of
Parliament would go the full logical length of
Pitt s argument; but men who held views quite
opposite to his as to the lawful authority of Par
liament to lay this tax were beginning to feel that
they must join him in getting it out of the way
of domestic prosperity in England. It seemed to
them a mistaken exercise of an unquestionable
right. They were prepared to correct the mistake,
which could be done without abandoning the right.
1 Grenville had laid down the proposition that England was
u the sovereign, the supreme legislative power over America,"
and that " taxation is a part of that sovereign power."
- Bancroft, Hist. U. S. v. 385-387.
118 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
As this feeling visibly gained ground the ministry
gathered courage to consider the expediency of
introducing a bill to repeal the act. Could the
king have had his way they would not have sur
vived in office to do so. He would have had their
ministerial heads off, as he had stricken those of
their immediate predecessors. But efforts which
he made to find successors for them were fruitless,
and so they remained in places which no others
could be induced to fill. Pitt was sounded, to see
whether he would ally himself with them ; but he
would not. Had he been gained the fight would
not have come simply upon the repeal of the act as
unsatisfactory, but as being contrary to the con
stitution of England. The narrower battle-ground
was selected by Rockingham.
The immediate forerunner in Parliament of the
repeal of the Stamp Act was significant. A reso
lution was introduced into the House of Lords,
February 3, 1766, that the "king in Parliament
has full power to bind the colonies and people of
America in all cases whatsoever." The debate
which followed showed what importance this
American question had assumed in England; the
expression of feeling was intense, the display of
ability very great. Lord Camden and Lord
Mansfield encountered each other; but the former,
with the best of the argument, had much the worst
of the division. One hundred and twenty -five
peers voted for the resolution, only five against it.
In the Commons, Pitt assailed the resolution,
SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND 119
with no better success than had attended Camden.
No one knew how many voted Nay, but it was
"less than ten voices, some said five or four, some
said but three." 1 Immediately after this assertion
of a principle, the same Parliament prepared to
set aside the only application of it which had ever
been attempted. It was well understood that the
repeal of the Stamp Act was close at hand.
It was at this juncture that Franklin, who had
been by no means idle during the long struggle,
appeared as a witness in that examination which
perhaps displayed his ability to better advantage
than any other single act in his life. It was be
tween February 3 and 13, 1766, that he and others
were summoned to give testimony concerning the
colonies at the bar of the House of Commons sit
ting in committee of the whole. The others have
O
been forgotten, but his evidence never will be.
The proceeding was striking ; there were some of
the cleverest and most experienced men in Eng
land to question him ; no one of them singly was
his match ; but there were many of them, and they
conducted an examination and a cross-examination
both in one; that is to say, those who wished to
turn a point against him might at any moment
interpose with any question which might suddenly
confuse or mislead him. But no man was ever
better fitted than Franklin to play the part of a
witness, and no record in politics or in law can
compare with the report of his testimony. Some
1 Bancroft. Hist. U. S. v. 417.
120 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
persons have endeavored to account for, which
means of course to detract from, its extraordinary
merit by saying that some of the questions and
replies had been prearranged; but it does not
appear that such prearrangement went further than
that certain friendly interrogators had discussed
the topics with him so as to be familiar with his
views. Every lawyer does this with his witnesses.
Nor can it be supposed that the admirable replies
which he made to the enemies of America were
otherwise than strictly impromptu. He had thor
ough knowledge of the subject; he was in perfect
control of his head and his temper; his extraordi
nary faculty for clear and pithy statement never
showed to better advantage; he was, as always,
moderate and reasonable ; but above all the won
derful element was the quick wit and ready skill
with which he turned to his own service every
query which was designed to embarrass him ; and
this he did not in the vulgar way of flippant retort
or disingenuous twistings of words or facts, but
with the same straightforward and tranquil sim
plicity of language with which he delivered evi
dence for the friendly examiners. Burke likened
the proceeding to an examination of a master by a
parcel of schoolboys.
Franklin used to say, betwixt plaint and hu
mor, that it always seemed to him that no one ever