the method and orders of one captain, shall sail | his eyes shut, and was half asleep at the time; worse than when by the orders of another. they sometimes answering, as is said, meBesides, it scarce ever happens that a ship is chanically; for he did not see a light just beformed, fitted for the sea, and sailed by the fore us, which had been hid by the studding same person; one man builds the hull, an- sails from the man at the helm, and from the other rigs her, a third loads and sails her. No rest of the watch, but by an accidental yaw one of these has the advantage of knowing all of the ship was discovered, and occasioned a the ideas and experience of the others, and great alarm, we being very near it; the light therefore cannot draw just conclusions from a appearing to me as large as a cart wheel. It combination of the whole. Even in the sim-was midnight, and our captain fast asleep; but captain Kennedy, jumping upon deck, and seeing the danger, ordered the ship to wear round, all sails standing; an operation dangerous to the masts, but it carried us clear, and we avoided shipwreck, for we were running fast on the rocks on which the light was This deliverance impressed me ple operation of sailing when at sea, I have often observed different judgments in the officers who commanded the successive watches, the wind being the same. One would have the sails trimmed sharper or flatter than another, so that they seemed to have no certain rule to govern by. Yet I think a set of ex-erected. periments might be instituted, first to deter-strong with the utility of light-houses, and mine the most proper form of the hull for made me resolve to encourage the building swift sailing: next, the best dimensions, and some of them in America, if I should live to properest place for the masts; then the form return thither. and quantity of sails, and their position as the winds may be; and lastly, the disposition of the lading. This is an age of experiments, and I think a set accurately made and combined would be of great use. In the morning, it was found by the soundings, &c., that we were near our port, but a thick fog hid the land from our sight. About nine o'clock the fog began to rise, and seemed to be lifted up from the water, like the curtain of a theatre, discovering underneath the town of Falmouth, the vessels in the har was a pleasing spectacle to those who had been long without any other prospect than the uniform view of a vacant ocean! and it gave us the more pleasure, as we were now free from the anxieties which had arisen.* I set out immediately, with my son,† for London, and we only stopped a little by the way to view Stonehenge, on Salisbury plain; and lord Pembroke's house and gardens, with the very curious antiquities at Wilton. We were several times chased in our passage, but outsailed every thing; and in thirty days had soundings. We had a good obser-bour, and the fields that surround it. This vation, and the captain judged himself so near our port, (Falmouth,) that if we made a good run in the night, we might be off the mouth of that harbour in the morning; and by running in the night might escape the notice of the enemy's privateers, who often cruised near the entrance of the channel. Accordingly all the sail was set that we could possibly carry, and the wind being very fresh and fair, we stood right before it, and made great way. The captain, after his observation, shaped his course, as he thought, so as to pass wide of the Scilly rocks; but it seems there is sometimes a strong current setting up St. George's Channel, which formerly caused the loss of sir Cloudesley Shovel's squadron, (in 1707): this was probably also the cause of what happened to us. We had a watchman placed in the bow, to whom they often called, "Look well out before there," and he as of ten answered, "Aye, aye;" but perhaps had We arrived in London, July 27th, 1757. * In a letter from Dr. Franklin to his wife, dated at Falmouth, the 17th July, 1757, after giving her a similar were I a Roman Catholic, perhaps I should, on this oc Jersey. MEMOIRS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. PART III. THAT profound observer of men and manners, lord Bacon, hath observed on the advantages of Biographical writing, over other branches of historical composition, that "History of times representeth the magnitude of actions, and the public faces or deportments of persons, and passeth over in silence the smaller passages and motions of men and matters. But such being the workmanship of God, as he doth hang the greatest weights upon the smallest wires, maxima é minimis suspendens; it comes, therefore, to pass, that such histories do rather set forth the pomp of business, than the true and inward resorts thereof. But LIVES, if they be well written, propounding to themselves a person to represent, in whom, actions both greater and smaller, public and private, have a commixture, must of necessity contain a more true, native, and lively representation." Of the truth of this sagacious remark, a more convincing evidence can hardly be adduced than the memoirs which Dr. Franklin hath left of himself; and the reader has to lament, that when the author resumed his narrative, at the request of some intelligent friends, he did it under the inconvenience of public business, and at a distance from his papers; but the greatest matter of regret is, that he did not bring the history of his own times down through the stormy and eventful period in which he made so conspicuous a figure, near to the close of his illustrious and exemplary career. Great light, and much curious and interesting information respecting the same, may, however, be collected from his "Private and Political Correspondence," forming a sequel to these memoirs. The necessity of pursuing the narration with chronological precision, is obvious and imperative; but the only matter for concern is, the indispensable obligation of changing the style of the relation from the dignity of the first person, which diffuses exquisite beauty, and gives peculiar energy to the preceding parts of the history. This, however, will, in some instances, be avoided, Dr. Franklin having left, (written by himself,) several separate relations of events, or circumstances in which he was particularly concerned; these, together with some of his letters, elucidating similar objects, will be inserted (in his own language) in their proper places; which he probably would himself have done, had he lived to complete the narrative of his Life: where, however, this resource is wanting, all that remains to be done, is, to adhere scrupulously to the verity of facts, and to the evidence of authorities; with as close an attention to the simplicity of the preceding pages as may be, without falling into the error of servile imitation. It will be proper here to enter into some detail on the state of Pennsylvania, at the period when the voyage to England took place, of which an account is given at the close of the last part of the author's own memoir; because, as he was obliged to trust solely to his memory, some slight inaccuracies escaped him, that would otherwise have been avoided. In January, 1757, the house of assembly voted a bill for granting to his majesty the sum of one hundred thousand pounds, by a tax on all the estates, real and personal, and taxables, within the province; but on submitting it to governor Denny for his sanction, he refused it in a message, which, among other remarkable observations, contained the following avowal of his subservience to the Penn family:-"The proprietaries are willing their estates should be taxed in the manner that appears to them to be reasonable, and agreeable to the land tax acts of parliament in our mother country. I am not inclined to enter into any dispute with you on the subject, since it cannot be decided on this side the water; nor can I see what good end it can answer, as the proprietaries have positively enjoined me, not to pass any bill that is against their instruction. As his majesty's service, and the defence of this province, render it necessary to raise immediate supplies, I must earnestly recommend it to you to frame such a bill as it is in my power to pass, consistent with my honour and my engagements to the proprietaries, which, I am persuaded, you will not desire me to violate. I have some amendments to propose to particular parts of the bill now before me, which I shall communicate to you, as soon as I know whether you determine to prepare a new bill, free from the objection I have abovementioned." Upon this, the house of assembly came to a resolution which was digested in the form of a remonstrance, by Mr. Franklin, as the internal evidence of the language plainly demonstrates. It was as follows: "The representatives of the freemen of Pennsylvania, in general assembly met, do hereby humbly remonstrate to your honour, that the proprietaries' professed willingness to be taxed, mentioned by your honour, in your message of Tuesday last, can be intended only to amuse and deceive their superiors; since they have in their instructions excepted all their quitrents, located unimproved lands, purchase-money at interest, and, in short, so much of their vast estate, as to reduce their tax, as far as appears to us, below that of a common farmer or tradesman. "That though the proprietaries' instructions are by no means laws in this province, we have so far complied with them, as to confine the sum given to be raised in one year. And had we complied with them in the other particulars, the raising any thing near the sum required by the present exigencies of the province, would be absolutely impossible. cious king for his service, and the defence of this colony from his majesty's enemies. "That the proprietaries refusing to permit us to grant money to the crown in this time of war, and imminent danger to the province, unless we will consent thus to exempt their estates from the tax, we conceive to be injurious to the interests of the crown, and tyrannical with regard to the people. "That we do further humbly conceive, neither the proprietaries, nor any other power on earth, ought to interfere between us and our sovereign, either to modify, or refuse our free gifts and grants for his majesty's service. "That though the governor may be under obligations to the proprietaries, we conceive he is under greater to the crown, and to the people he is appointed to govern; to promote the service of the former, preserve the rights of the latter, and protect them from their cruel enemies. "We do, therefore, in the name of our most gracious sovereign, and in behalf of the distressed people we represent, unanimously DEMAND it of the governor as our RIGHT, that he give his assent to the bill we now present him, for granting to his majesty one hundred thousand pounds for the defence of this province, (and as it is a money-bill, without alteration or amendment, any instructions whatsoever from the proprietaries notwithstanding,) as he will answer to the crown for all the consequences of his refusal at his peril. This spirited remonstrance, in which it might be almost said that argument and satire are blended, failed to produce any other effect upon the governor than of confirming his refusal, and of drawing from him a laboured justification, grounded upon parliamentary usage in England, and the supposed hardship "That the apparent necessity of so large a sum for his majesty's service, and the defence of this his province, founded upon the gover-of taxing the unimproved lands of the pronor's own estimate, has obliged us to an effort beyond our strength, being assured, that hundreds of families must be distressed to pay this tax. "That we have, in the due exercise of our just rights, by the royal and provincial charters, and the laws of this province, and as an English representative body, framed this bill, consistent with those rights. "That the bill is agreeable to justice and equity with regard to the proprietaries, and is not repugnant to the laws of our mother country, but as nearly agreeable thereto as our different circumstances will permit; nor is it contrary to any royal instruction whatever. That great as the sum is, and hard for this people to pay, we freely offer it to our gra prietaries. His objections were replied to seriatim by the house, and at considerable length, but with that perspicuity for which Franklin was ever distinguished. At the conclusion it was "ordered, February 28, 1757, that Mr. Roberdeau and Mr. Yorke do wait upon the governor with the bill for granting one hundred thousand pounds for the defence of the province, and acquaint him, that upon receiving his honour's message of the 12th instant, sent down with our last supply bill, the committee to whom that message was referred, have reported fully upon all the objections against that bill, which, after mature deliberation, the house have approved, and find those objections are rather excuses for not passing the bill, than reasons against it: innumerable and weighty obstacles were thrown in his way, by the art and industry of those who had an interest in prejudicing the public mind against the force of his representations. For this purpose the newspapers were constantly supplied with paragraphs, under the form of Intelligence from Pennsylvania, but in reality manufactured in London, and conveying gross reflections upon the as -That the bill itself is only a supplement to an act, which, after a full hearing before the lords of trade, has very lately received the royal assent; and we confined ourselves to that act, with as few alterations as possible, apprehending the bill would be free from all objections under the royal sanction so lately obtained :-That by the estimate the governor laid before us this session, he computes the sum of one hundred and twenty-seven thou-sembly and the inhabitants of the province, sand pounds as necessary to be raised for the defence of the province in the ensuing year; and yet upon the most exact computation we have been able to make, no more than thirty thousand pounds could be raised upon the province in one year by his restricted powers, and not one third of his proposed estimate, by the addition of all the other measures he has proposed, if the house were so insensible of the duty they owe to their constituents as to take their money laws from him only :-That therefore we desire to know his final result upon this bill, which we once more send up for his concurrence; and if he should, notwithstanding, continue to refuse his assent to it as it now stands, we must refer it to his honour to pay the forces by him raised, or to disband them, as he shall judge he can best answer for his conduct to his majesty, whose colony we apprehend to be in imminent danger, and for the defence whereof we have in vain endeavoured to make the necessary provision as far as lay in our power." Great events it has been frequently observed spring from little causes, and though the contest between the governor and the assembly of Pennsylvania was far from being in itself of trivial import, considering the variety of interests which it involved, yet as being a local and private concern, no extensive consequences could reasonably have been expected to flow from it. To the philosophical historian, however, who watches the influence of casual occurrences upon the actions and opinions of eminent men, it will appear more than probable, that this struggle for an equalization of rights in one province, led the way, or at least incidentally prepared the people of America for a more general resistance to arbitrary impositions. The refusal of the proprietaries to take their part of the public burdens, while they enjoyed all the increasing advantages resulting from the security thereby afforded, brought questions under discussion which might otherwise have lain dormant. Certain it is that these disputes, by calling the energetic mind of Benjamin Franklin into a new field of inquiry, and clothing him with the diplomatic character, enlarged the sphere of his observation, and fitted him for those extraordinary services in which he acquired the greatest glory by contributing to that of his country. On his arrival in England he found, that who were described as actuated by selfish motives and a refractory spirit, because they persisted in withstanding the claim of the proprietaries to an exemption from that taxation which was necessary to the defence of their own estates. To increase the mortification of the provincial agent, he saw that the people were so little acquainted with the internal condition of the colonies, as almost to regard with indifference any complaint of grievances which issued thence. Besides this, the public attention being fixed upon the progress of the war in Germany, rendered it a still more arduous task to remove the impressions produced by interested individuals, against the equitable claims of the inhabitants of a settlement in another part of the world. If to these formidable impediments be added the natural reluctance of government to interpose in local disputes, arising from the ambiguity, or even the abuse of royal grants, it will be seen that the representative of the Pennsylvania assembly had more to dishearten than to encourage him in the mission which had been entrusted to his zeal and management. Considering the complexion of European politics at that period, and the superior influence of those with whom he had to negotiate or contend, his situation was of a description that would have depressed men of vigorous intellect and of the most enlarged experience in the intrigues of public business. But it was well perhaps for the immediate benefit of the particular province to which he stood related, and also for the future advantage of the American states, that these difficulties occurred, as they not only brought into exercise the powers of him who was fitted to overcome them, but laid the foundation of connexions and improvements that in all probability would not otherwise have taken place. One of the first objects attended to by Dr. Franklin, was the current of public opinion on the concern in which he was peculiarly interested, and to observe the means adopted to give that opinion a bias unfavourable to the cause which he had to support. Finding that the press was employed for this purpose, he resolved to avail himself of the same source of information, and fully aware of his own strength, no less than of the justice of what he defended, he entertained the confident assurance of being able to refute calumny by facts, and to correct the errors arising from reasoning. misrepresentation by simple and conclusive | invidiously mentioned in the pretended news, it was shown that they were occasioned chiefly by new instructions or commands sent from England, forbidding the governors to sanction any laws imposing taxes for the defence of the country, unless the proprietary estate, or much the greatest part of it, was exempted from the burden. With respect to the Quakers, who had been represented as the instigators of the contention, the author of the letter satisfactorily proved, by the adduction of facts, that they constituted but a small part of the existing population of the province, and were no more active in the disputes than the rest of the inhabitants, who, with the exception of the proprietary officers and their dependants, had joined in opposing the instructions and contending for their rights. In farther vindication of the Quakers it was observed, that notwithstanding their scruple about bearing arms, they had contributed largely for the defence of the country; and that, to prevent any obstruction in the assembly from their peculiar opinions, they had for the most part declined sitting in the assembly. Having thus cleared unfounded objections, and illiberal aspersions, the letter proceeded to a statistical account of the province, and of the spirit of the people, from which the British public might see that every thing had been done there to secure the frontier and to protect the trade of the neighbouring governments, without any contributions, either from those colonies or the mother country. An opportunity soon offered to bring the subject fairly before the public, in consequence of the insertion of an article in a paper called the "Citizen, or General Advertiser," stating that recent letters from Philadelphia brought dreadful accounts of the ravages committed by the Indians on the inhabitants of the back provinces; and that notwithstanding these cruelties the disputes between the governor and the assembly were carried on to as great a height as ever, the messages on both sides being expressed in terms which gave very little hopes of a reconciliation. The intelligence then went into particulars, by saying the bill to raise money was clogged, so as to prevent the governor from giving his consent to it; and that the obstinacy of the Quakers in the assembly was such, that they would in no shape alter it; so that while the enemy was in the heart of the country, cavils prevented any thing being done for its relief. The evident object of this paragraph was to create general indignation against the assembly, by making it appear that the members of it were of so factious a disposition as to sacrifice the welfare of their country for the gratification of private ends, and so dead to all the finer feelings of humanity as to abandon their helpless fellow-creatures to savage ferocity, rather than lay aside their particular differences. It did not require the sagacity of Benjamin Franklin to discover that this fabrication originated in a spirit of alarm occasioned by the circumstance that an accredited agent on the part of the province was in London; but reflecting that, as such, it did not become him on the one hand to enter upon the public discussion of the concern which he was employed to bring to an amicable conclusion, nor on the other to preserve an abso lute silence, which might prove detrimental to the interests of those whom he represented; he therefore judiciously caused a reply, bearing the name of his son, to be inserted in the same journal; from which he had the satisfaction of seeing it transplanted into other papers of greater importance and more extensive circulation. In this letter, dated from the Pennsylvania coffee house, London, September 16, 1757, the author repels the insinuation thrown out against one province, as if it quiescently suffered more from the Indians than any other, by showing that the contrary was the fact, and that the rest of the colonies were as much exposed to savage depredation as Pennsylvania. In the next place he observes, that the inhabitants on the frontiers of that province were not Quakers, and that so far from entertaining the passive principles of this sect, they were supplied with arms, and had frequently repelled the enemy, On the subject of the disputes so This paper was well adapted to draw the attention of thinking men to the real state of Pennsylvania, and the nature of the grievances complained of by the great body of its inhabitants, whose misfortune it was to have their cause little understood, where only they had to look for a remedy. To remove this obstacle more effectually, and to bring the subject so fully before the public as to render all the arts of misrepresentation no longer availing to the selfish purposes of an interested party, Mr. Franklin, while engaged in negotiation with the proprietaries, employed his leisure hours in drawing up a minute account of the province for general information. The necessity of such a publication was obvious from the insidious attempts made, through various journals, to blacken the inhabitants of Pennsylvania with the foul charges of ingratitude to the founder of that colony, injustice to its present proprietors, and even disaffection to the parent country. Mr. Franklin saw with concern that this delusion prevailed to such a degree as to give him little chance of success in the object of his mission, until he could dispel the cloud of prejudice that craft had raised, and convince the British nation of the wrong which it countenanced, through ignorance and credulity. But knowing that |