book is too strongly marked to mislead any one that is at all conversant with the style of Franklin ; but when it originally appeared, his reputation as a writer was not sufficiently established to render the discovery easy by the simple test of literary composition. Such, however, were its attractions in this respect, that notwithstanding the peculiar aridity of the subject, the work gained public notice, and was distinguished by the approbation of those who were most competent to decide upon its merits.

The DEDICATION to Arthur Onslow, the venerable Speaker of the House of Commons, would alone be sufficient to ascertain the hand whence the Review proceeded; for, independent of its epigrammatic turns and general terseness, it breathes the language of a person acting by the authority of the provincialists, whose cause he so powerfully pleaded.

To the Right Honorable ARTHUR ONSLOW, Esq. Speaker of the Honorable House of Commons. SIR,

The subject of the following sheets is an unhappy one-the controversy between the proprietaries and successive assemblies of Pennsylvania. A controversy which has often embarrassed, if not endangered the public service: a controversy which has been long depending, and which still seems to be as far from an issue as ever.

Our blessed Saviour reproaches the Pharisees with laying heavy burdens on men's shoulders, which they themselves would not stir with a single finger.

Our proprietaries, sir, have done the same; and for the sake of the commonwealth, the province has hitherto submitted to the imposition. Not, indeed, without the most strenuous endeavors to lay the load equally, the fullest manifestations of their right to do so, and the strongest protestations against the violence put upon them.

Having been most injuriously misrepresented and traduced in print by the known agents and dependants of these gentlemen, their fellow-subjects, they at last find themselves obliged to set forth an historical state of their case, and to make their appeal to the public upon it.

With the public opinion in their favor, they may with the more confidence lift up their eyes to the wisdom of parliament and the majesty of the crown, from whence alone they can derive an effectual remedy.

To your hands, sir, these papers are most humbly presented, for considerations so obvious, that they scarce need any explanation.

The Roman provinces did not stand more in need of patronage than ours: and such clients as we are, would have preferred the integrity of Cato to the fortune of Cæsar.

The cause we bring is, in fact, the cause of all the

provinces in one; it is the cause of every British subject in every part of the British dominions. It is the cause of every man who deserves to be free, everywhere.

The propriety, therefore, of addressing these papers to a gentleman, who, for so many successive parliaments, with so much honor to himself, and satisfaction to the public, has been at the head of the commons of Great Britain, cannot be called in question.

You will smile, sir, perhaps, as you read the references of a provincial assembly to the rights and claims of parliament; but, we humbly conceive, it will be without the least mixture of resentment; those assemblies having nothing more in view than barely to establish their privileges, on the most rational and solid basis they could find, for the security and service of their constituents.

And you are humbly besought, sir, not to think the worse of this address, because it has been made without your permission or privity.

Nobody asks leave to pay a debt; every Briton is your debtor, sir; and all we have said, or can say, is but a poor composition for what we owe

you.

You have conferred as much honor on the chair you fill, as the chair has conferred on you.

Probity and dignity are your characteristics. May that seat always derive the same lustre from the same qualities!

This at least ought to be our prayer, whether it is or not within our expectations.

For the province of Pennsylvania, as well as in my own private capacity, I have the honor to be, with the most profound respect, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, THE EDITOR.

But as the INTRODUCTION is, if possible, still more decidedly descriptive of the author, and is in itself altogether so excellent, no apology can be necessary for giving it a place in these memoirs.

INTRODUCTION.

"To obtain an infinite variety of purposes, by a few plain principles, is the characteristic of nature. As the eye is affected, so is the understanding: objects at a distance, strike us according to their dimensions, or the quantity of light thrown upon them; near, according to their novelty or familiarity; as they are in motion or at rest. It is the same with actions. A battle is all motion; a hero all glare: while such images are before us, we can attend to nothing else. Solon and Lycurgus would make no figure in the same scene with the King of Prussia; and we are at present so lost in the military scramble on the continent next us,' in which it must be confessed, we are deeply interested, that

'This publication was made in London during the war declared only in 1756, though hostilities had commenced earlier in America.

we have scarce time to throw a glance towards America, where we have also much at stake, and where, if any where, our account must be made up at last.

"We love to stare more than to reflect; and to be indolently amused at our leisure, rather than commit the smallest trespass on our patience by winding a painful, tedious maze, which would pay us nothing but knowledge.

"But then, as there are some eyes which can find nothing marvellous, but what is marvellously great, so there are others which are equally disposed to marvel at what is marvellously little; and who can derive as much entertainment from their microscope in examining a mite, as Dr. in ascertaining the geography of the moon, or measuring the tail of a comet.

"Let this serve as an excuse for the author of these sheets, if he needs any, for bestowing them on the transactions of a colony, till of late, hardly mentioned in our annals; in point of establishment, one of the last upon the British list, and in point of rank, one of the most subordinate; as being not only subject, in common with the rest, to the crown, but also to the claims of a proprietary, who thinks he does them honor enough in governing them by deputy; consequently so much further removed from the royal eye, and so much the more exposed to the pressure of self-interested instructions.