the founder would not relax in their demands, and that the publication of this explicit statement had exasperated them in no ordinary degree, the agent for the province brought the cause of his clients in the shape of a petition before the privy council. Such indeed was his activity, and so confident were the provincialists of the success of their cause in his hands, that during his residence in England the assembly passed a law for the imposition of a tax, in which no exemption was made in favor of the proprietary estates. This bill received the assent of governor Denny, which plainly evinced, that the governor felt not only the reasonableness of the measure itself, but the certainty that his employers must soon yield to the persevering efforts of their opponents. The proprietaries, on receiving the intelligence of this advance in the cause of independence, exerted themselves to prevent the royal sanction from being given to the money-bill which their own governor had passed, but which they represented as subversive of their chartered rights, and tending to ruin themselves and their posterity, by bringing upon them all the expenses necessary for the defence and support of the province. The cause, however, proceeded before the lords of the council, and though the Penn family did not want powerful support, and very able advocates, such was the force of simple truth and the evidence of plain facts, that the agent of the colony soon perceived the advantage which had been gained by his prudent management and seasonable publication. After some delay and much tedious discussion, a proposal of accommodation was made on the part of the proprietarics, that Mr. Franklin should engage for his employers not to assess the estates in question beyond their due proportion. To this proposition no objection could be offered, for it in fact conceded the very ground of litigation, and established by consent of the contending parties and under the authority of government, all the rights to which the inhabitants of Pennsylvania laid claim, and of which they had been so long deprived.. This termination of the controversy brought the abilities of Franklin into full exercise, and the engagement into which

he entered was so scrupulously fulfilled, as to raise him in the estimation of those persons who had for a considerable time looked upon him with jealousy, and considered him as inimical to their interests. The conspicuous light in which this business placed his talents and integrity sufficiently appeared, indeed, by the circumstance, that when the conclusion of the dispute became known in America, the colonies of Massachusetts, Maryland, and Georgia, were anxious to have him for their agent in England; which appointment suiting his views and connexions was readily accepted, and as honorably discharged.

His conduct, however, in the Pennsylvanian differences, though so unequivocally marked by the public approbation of those who were the most competent to judge of its merits, has not passed without censure; and the late biographer of William Penn, finding it necessary to vindicate that extraor dinary character from the various charges and surmises brought against him by various writers, among the rest took notice of the Historical Review, published by Franklin, and the spirit in which it was composed. Mr. Clarkson observes, that this book was the production of Franklin, "though it was attributed to one Ralph, to prejudice the people against the proprietary family, in order to effect a change of government from proprietary to royal; which was afterwards attempted, but which to his great chagrin failed. This failure laid the foundation of his animosity to Great Britain, which was so conspicuous afterwards."f

Here the biographer, in his zeal to defend the founder of Pennsylvania, has committed the very fault which he has endeavored to fasten as an error upon Franklin; for it certainly is not true that the latter wrote his book to effect a change in the government, which design there is every reason to believe had not been even conceived at the time, however it may have been long after. The work was drawn up for no other

Memoirs of the private and public life of William Penn. By Thomas Clarkson, M. A. Vol. II. p. 386.

purpose than to exhibit the state of the province, and to make the nation clearly acquainted with the progressive grievances of which the inhabitants complained. Undoubtedly these grievances were in a great measure traced by the author to the manner in which William Penn had secured his property originally, and provided for an increase of it in the event of the prosperous advance of the colony.

The historian of Pennsylvania could not avoid noticing the double part which this celebrated legislator had played, as proprietary and governor; for the people of his own persuasion, who had embarked with him in this concern, had heavily and repeatedly complained of his conduct towards them, and their charges against him upon record, are infinitely more severe than the slight touches of sarcastic reflection scattered here and there in the REVIEW. Nor is it true that the disappointment experienced in the failure of the projected alteration in the government from proprietary to royal, laid the foundation of any animosity in the mind of Franklin against Great Britain; for it is a well-known fact, that the differences between the parent country and the colonies were the source of great uneasiness to him; and he endeavored all that lay in his power to prevent the rupture which ensued. This will clearly appear in the sequel of these memoirs.

Mr. Clarkson very properly enters into a justification of Penn's moral character, and he has succeeded in a great degree in clearing up many doubtful points, which tended, on the authority of respectable writers, to bring the principles of that eminent man into suspicion; but the same love of justice ought to have prevented the biographer and panegyrist of Penn, from throwing illiberal reflections, and alleging unfounded accusations, against one who was not at least inferior to him in ability and integrity. Nevertheless Mr. Clarkson is willing to obtain the testimony of Franklin in favor of the object of his admiration, though it is to be regretted that he could not even do this without mixing with his quotation something disrespectful of the very authority which he cited.

"Nay," says he, "if I mistake not, Dr. Franklin himself was among those who highly respected Penn."

The doctor had a satirical way of expressing himself when he was not pleased, and therefore when he found fault with William Penn, he could not get rid of his old habit; but the hostility he manifested was far more in manner than in heart. He was assuredly more severe upon William Penn's grandsons, against whom (it is said) he published a small pamphlet, where, as if no other way had been left to expose them, it is singular that he contrasted their conduct with the virtuous example of their noble ancestor. The little ludicrous motto, prefixed to this work, and which was taken from John Rogers's primer, may enable the reader to judge in part of its

contents:

"I send you here a little book,

For you to look upon:

That you may see your father's face,

Now he is dead and gone."

The ingenious eulogist of Penn, however, does not seem to have been aware, that in attempting to invalidate the testimony of Franklin, he had before completely destroyed the value of his praise. In the general view of the character of Penn, no doubt the latter concurred fully with the voice of the public; but knowing as he did the minuter parts of the history of his connexions with the province which bears his name, it was impossible either to pass them over in absolute silence, or to speak of them without some observation on the want of consistency in so great a man.

Thus much it was proper here to remark, because if a necessity existed for the justification of Penn from any reflections bestowed upon him by the historian of his settlement, it must be equally necessary to show that these reflections

In a letter to Mr. David Barclay, dated Passy, January 8, 1783, Dr. Franklin thus expresses himself. "Your friends on both sides the Atlantic, may be assured of whatever justice or favor I may be able to procure for them. My veneration for William Penn is not less than yours; and I have always had great esteem for the body of your people."

did not proceed from the wantonness of a satirical humor, or the malignity of wit, but from an attentive examination of the subject, and the paramount love of truth, in a concern which demanded an investigation in detail, and a full exposition for the ends of justice.

While Benjamin Franklin was engaged in this troublesome but important concern, at the court of Great Britain, he had opportunities of becoming acquainted with many persons of the first consequence in the state, who, on their side were not wanting in observing his extraordinary sagacity and comprehensive understanding. The war in which Great Britain was then involved, could not fail to excite much of his attention, and he was not alone in the opinion, that by pursuing the contest solely in Germany, England incurred an enormous expenditure, without either reaping any immediate advantage, or facilitating an honorable termination. There was something, indeed, peculiarly splendid in the achievements of the king of Prussia; and the nation, without knowing why, seemed to identify the cause of that monarch with the security of the Protestant religion, and the maintenance of the balance of power, the favorite delusions of that period. The judgment of Franklin was unbiassed by prejudices which had no foundation in reason, and too cool to be warmed by the report of victories, the result of which appeared to be little more than an occasion for renewed exertions and more sanguinary conflicts, without any definite object or satisfactory prospect. He contemplated the interests of Britain in a more dispassionate point of view, than those who made them dependant upon the success of subsidized allies; and knowing by experience, how desirous France was to gain a more extended footing in America, he thought it would be the wisest way to counteract her ambitious projects, by an attack upon her own colony. Franklin was no stranger to Canada, and he was thoroughly persuaded that the possession of that country gave to the French a commanding influence over the Indians, of which they never failed to take an advantage, to the annoyance of VOL. I.

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