"A generous confidence thus placed in the colonies, will give ground to the friends of government there, in their endeavors to procure from America every reasonable concession, or engagement, and every substantial aid, that can fairly be desired."

On the Saturday evening I saw Mrs. Howe, who informed me she had transcribed and sent the paper to Lord Howe in the country, and she returned me the original. On the following Tuesday, January 3d, I received a note from her, (enclosing a letter she had received from Lord Howe the last night,) which follows.

"MRS. HOWE's compliments to Dr. Franklin, she encloses him a letter she received last night, and returns him many thanks for his very obliging present,' which has already given her great entertainment. If the Doctor has any spare time for chess, she will be exceedingly glad to see him any morning this week, and as often as will be agreeable to him, and rejoices in having so good an excuse for asking the favor of his company."

Tuesday.

[Letter enclosed in the foregoing.]

"Porter's Lodge, Jan. 2d, 1775.

"I have received your packet; and it is with much concern that I collect, from sentiments of such authority as those of our worthy friend, that the desired accommodation threatens to be attended with much greater difficulty than I had flattered myself, in the progress of our intercourse, there would be reason to apprehend.

"I shall forward the propositions as intended. Not desirous of trespassing further on our friend's indulgence; but returning sentiments of regard, which his candid and obliging attention to my troublesome inquiries, will render ever permanent in the memory of your affectionate, &c.

"I ought to make excuses likewise to you. "Hon. Mrs. Howe, Grafton Street."

How E.

His lordship had, in his last conversation with me, acknowledged a communication between him and the ministry, to whom he wished to make my sentiments known. In this letter from the country he owns the receipt of them, and mentions his intention of forwarding them, that is, as I understood it, to the ministers; but expresses his apprehensions that such propositions were not likely to produce any good effect. Some time after, perhaps a week, I received a note from Mrs. Howe, desiring to see me. I waited upon her immediately, when she showed me a letter from her brother, of which having no copy, I can only give from the best of my recollection. the purport of it, which I think was this; that he desired to know from their friend, meaning me, through her means, whether it might not be expected, that if that friend would engage for their payment of the tea as a preliminary, relying on a promised redress of their grievances on future petitions from their assembly, they would approve of his making such engagement; and whether the proposition in the former paper, (the HINTS,) relating to aids, was still in contemplation of the author, As Mrs. Howe proposed sending to her brother that evening, I wrote immediately the following answer, which she transcribed and forwarded.

"The proposition in the former paper relating to aids, is still in contemplation of the author, and, as he thinks, is included in the last article of the present paper. "The people of America, conceiving that parliament has no right to tax them, and that therefore all that has been extorted from them by the operation of the duty acts, with the assistance of an armed force, preceding the destruction of the tea, is so much injury, which ought in order of time to be first repaired, before a demand on the tea account can be justly made of them; are not, he thinks likely to approve of the measure proposed, and pay in the first place the value demanded, especially as twenty times as much injury has since been done them by blocking up their port; and their castle also seized before by the crown, has not been restored, nor any satisfaction offered them for the same.

At the meeting of parliament after the holidays, which was on the of January, (1775), Lord Howe returned to town, when we had another meeting, at which he lamented that my propositions were not such as probably could be accepted; intimated, that it was thought I had powers or instructions from the congress to make concessions on occasion that would be more satisfactory. I disclaimed the having any of any kind but what related to the presenting of their petition. We talked over all the particulars in my paper, which I supported with reasons; and finally said, that if what I had proposed would not do, I should be glad to hear what

would do; I wished to see some propositions from the ministers themselves. His lordship was not, he said, as yet fully acquainted with their sentiments, but should learn more in a few days. It was, however, some weeks before I heard any thing further from him.

In the mean while, Mr. Barclay and I were frequently together on the affair of preparing the merchants' petition, which took up so much of his time that he could not conveniently see Lord Hyde; so he had no information to give me concerning the HINTS, and I wondered I heard nothing of them from Dr. Fothergill. At length, however, but I cannot recollect about what time, the Doctor called on me, and told me he had communicated them, and with them had verbally given my arguments in support of them, to Lord Dartmouth, who, after consideration, had told him, some of them appeared reasonable, but others were inadmissible or impracticable. That having occasion to see frequently the speaker,' he had also communicated them to him, as he found him very anxious for a reconciliation. That the speaker had said it would be very humiliating to Britain to be obliged to submit to such terms: but the Doctor told him she had been unjust; and ought to bear the consequences, and alter her conduct; that the pill might be bitter, but it would be salutary, and must be swallowed. That these were the sentiments of impartial men, after thorough consideration and full information of all circumstances, and that sooner or later these or similar measures must be followed, or the empire would be divided and ruined. The Doctor on the whole hoped some good would be effected by our endeavors.

On the 19th of Jan. I received a card from Lord Stanhope, acquainting me, that Lord Chatham having a motion to make on the morrow in the house of lords, concerning America, greatly desired that I might be in the house, into which Lord S. would endeavor to procure me admittance. At this time it was a rule of the house that no person could introduce more than one friend. The next morning, his lordship let me know by another card, that if I attended at two o'clock in the lobby, Lord Chatham would be there about that time, and would himself introduce me. I attended, and met him there accordingly. On my mentioning to him what Lord Stanhope had written to me, he said, "Certainly; and I shall do it with the more pleasure, as I am sure your being present at this day's debate will be of more service to America than mine;" and so taking me by the arm, was leading me along the passage to the door that enters near the throne, when one of the door-keepers fol

Sir Fletcher Norton.

lowed and acquainted him that by the order, none were to be carried in at that door, but the eldest sons or brothers of peers; on which he limped back with me to the door near the bar, where were standing a number of gentlemen waiting for the peers who were to introduce them, and some peers waiting for friends they expected to introduce; among whom he delivered me to the doorkeepers, saying aloud, this is Dr. Franklin, whom I would have admitted into the house; when they readily opened the door for me accordingly. As it had not been publicly known that there was any communication between his lordship and me, this I found occasioned some speculation. His appearance in the house, I observed, caused a kind of bustle among the officers, who were hurried in sending messengers for members, I suppose those in connection with the ministry, something of importance being expected when that great man appears; it being but seldom that his infirmities permit his attendance. I had great satisfaction in hearing his motion and the debate upon it, which I shall not attempt to give here an account of, as you may find a better in the papers of the time. It was his motion for withdrawing the troops from Boston, as the first step towards an accommodation. The day following, I received a note from Lord Stanhope expressing, that "at the desire of Lord Chatham was sent ne enclosed, the motion he made in the house of lords, that I might be possessed of it in the most authentic manner, by the communication of the individual paper which was read to the house by the mover himself." I sent copies of this motion to America, and was the more pleased with it, as I conceived it had partly taken its rise from a hint I had given his lordship in a former conversation. It follows in these words.

Lord Chatham's Motion, June 20, 1775.

"That an humble address be presented to his majesty, most humbly to advise and beseech his majesty, that, in order to open the way towards an happy settlement of the dangerous troubles in America, by beginning to allay ferments and soften animosities there; and above all, for preventing in the mean time any sudden and fatal catastrophe at Boston, now suffering under the daily irritation of an army before their eyes, posted in their town, it may graciously please his majesty, that immediate orders may be dispatched to General Gage for removing his majesty's forces from the town of Boston, as soon as the rigor of the season and other circumstances, indispensable to the safety and accommodation of the said troops, may render the same practicable."

I was quite charmed with Lord Chatham's speech in support of his motion." He impressed me with the highest idea of him as a great and most able statesman. Lord Camden, another wonderfully good speaker and close reasoner, joined him in the same argument, as did several other lords, who spoke excellently well; but all availed no more than the whistling of the winds. The motion was rejected. Sixteen Scotch peers, and twenty-four bishops, with all the lords in possession or expectation of places, when they vote together unanimously, as they generally do for ministerial measures, make a dead majority that renders all debating ridiculous in itself, since it can answer no end. Full of the high esteem I had imbibed for Lord Chatham, I wrote back to Lord Stanhope the following note, viz.

Dr. Franklin presents his best respects to Lord Stanhope, with many thanks to his lordship and Lord Chatham, for the communication of so authentic a copy of the motion. Dr. F. is filled with admiration of that truly great man. He has seen in the course of life, sometimes eloquence without wisdom, and often wisdom without eloquence; in the present instance he sees both united, and both as he thinks, in the highest degree possible.

Craven Street, Jan. 23, 1775.

As in the course of the debate, some lords in the administration had observed, that it was cominon and easy to censure their measures, but those who did so proposed nothing better; Lord Chatham mentioned that he should not be one of those idle censurers, that he had thought long and closely upon the subject, and proposed soon to lay before their lordships the result of his meditation, in a plan for healing our differences, and restoring peace to the empire, to which his present motion was preparatory: I much desired to know what his plan was, and intended waiting on him to see if he would communicate it to me; but he went the next morning to Hayes, and I was so much taken up with daily business and company, that I could not easily get out to him. A few days after, however, Lord Mahon called on me, and told me Lord Chatham was very desirous of seeing me; when I promised to

It was reported at the time, that his lordship had concluded his speech with the following remarkable words. "If the ministers thus persevere in misadvising and misleading the King, I will not say that they can alienate the affections of his subjects from his crown, but I will affirm, that they will make the crown not worth his wearing. I will not say that the King is betrayed, but I will pronounce that the kingdom is undone.”

VOL. I.

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