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. (Signed by order of the House)

January 28, 1757.

"ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker."

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 labored justification, grounded upon parliamentary usage in England, and the

supposed hardship of taxing the unimproved lands of the proprietaries. 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 honor'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:-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 thousand 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 re

stricted 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 honor 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 endeavored 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 bur thens, 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 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 Pennsyl vania, but in reality manufactured in London, and conveying gross reflections upon the assembly and the inhabitants of the province, 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

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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 Pennsylvanian 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 negociate 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 Mr.