penses.

postmaster-general the department had never paid exHe set to work with his accustomed vigor, and eventually so remodeled and improved the service that, when he was ejected from office just before the outbreak of the Revolution, the American post-office was yielding King George III. a handsome profit.

In December of the year in which he was thus engaged a tragic affair occurred, which roused Franklin as nothing had before, and showed that beneath the philosopher's calm' exterior he shared those feelings which made the Roman poet declare, "I am a man, and whatever concerns humanity concerns me." The settlers of the Pennsylvania frontier towns of Peckstang (or Paxton) and Donegall had become terribly excited over stories of Indian outrages, many of which were unfortunately but too true. In the fury and thirst for vengeance, roused by these accounts, the “Paxton Boys," as they were called, determined to destroy every Indian that should fall into their hands. It happened that not far from them there was living the feeble remnant of a peaceful tribe that many years before had made a treaty of friendship with William Penn, which, as they expressed it, was to continue "as long as the sun should shine in the heavens or the waters run in the rivers." In open and unprovoked violation of that treaty, which the tribe had always faithfully kept, the "Paxton Boys" now planned an attack on these inoffensive neighbors. One of the Indians, an aged chief named Shehaes, was told of the impending peril, but refused to believe it. He said, "It is impossible; there are, indeed, Indians in the woods, who would kill me and mine, if they could get at us, because of my friendship to the English; but the English will wrap me in their matchcoat,1 and save me from all danger."

1 Matchcoat: a loose woolen coat made of coarse stuff called matchcloth.

Notwithstanding the poor Indian's trust in the good faith of all white men, the cowardly attack was made and everyone who was found was slain. The authorities now interposed and removed those who had escaped to the county workhouse for safety. But their enemies had sworn to exterminate them, and not long after their arrival a band of armed men burst in the door of the building and began an indiscriminate slaughter. "When," writes Franklin, "the poor wretches saw they had no protection nigh, nor could possibly escape, and being without the least weapon for defense, they divided their little families, the children clinging to their parents. They fell on their knees, protested their innocence, declared their love to the English, and that in their whole lives they had never done them injury; and in this posture they all received the hatchet. Men, women, and little children were every one inhumanly murdered in cold blood! The barbarous men who committed the atrocious act, in defiance of government, and of all laws human and divine, and to the eternal disgrace of their country and their color, then mounted their horses, huzzaed in triumph, as if they had gained a victory, and rode off unmolested!"

Such a deed, as Franklin declared, would not have been perpetrated even by the heathen of Africa; for, he says, at least one man would have been found with sense, spirit, and humanity enough to stand up in their defense.

"In short," he adds, "these peaceful Indians would have been safe in any part of the known world, except in the neighborhood of the Christian white savages of Peckstang and Donegall!"

Alarmed for their safety, one hundred and forty friendly Indians, some of whom were members of the Moravian

church, and therefore non-resistants, now sought protection in Philadelphia. But the men who had begun the massacre threatened to invade the town and put these fugitives to death. With the governor's approval Franklin formed a military association of nearly a thousand armed citizens in their defense. Quite a number of those enrolled were Quakers, who, though opposed to war, were, nevertheless, fully determined not to stand calmly by and see these harmless Indians deliberately murdered. This decided action on the part of the Philadelphians intimidated the "Paxton Boys." They thought it prudent to halt before attempting to march into the town. The authorities seized the favorable opportunity and sent a commission, headed by Franklin, to confer with the rioters, who were soon persuaded to disperse. Thus Franklin's vigorous protest, backed by his equally vigorous action, saved many lives.

The governor, however, fearing some new outbreak, now recommended the passage of a militia law, organizing citizens into regular companies, for the maintenance of public order and their own defense. The Assembly accordingly drafted a bill to that effect, but, to their astonishment, the governor refused to sign it unless he was empowered to appoint all of the officers, with the further promise that trials should be by court-martial, several offenses being made punishable by death. The Assembly declined to grant the governor such arbitrary and dangerous authority, and the bill was lost.

As money was now sorely needed for meeting the expenses of the Indian war, it was proposed that fifty thousand pounds be borrowed, and that a land tax be levied toward payment of the debt. In this tax the estates of the proprietaries were to be included, according to the decision

which Franklin had obtained from the crown.

The gov

ernor, however, refused to give his assent to the proposed law unless the proprietary lands, no matter how valuable they might be, should be assessed at the same rate as the poorest tracts of swamp, or most worthless sand or rock barrens, held by any of the colonists. The Assembly remonstrated against such flagrant favoritism, but to no purpose, and they were finally obliged to make the concession in order to get means to pay the men. The legislature was now fully convinced that the proprietaries had no intention of keeping faith with them, and that they would always find some way of evading any law which required them to bear their just proportion of the expenses of the colonial government. The Assembly, therefore, passed a series of resolutions declaring that the interests of the province demanded that all power should be taken from the proprietaries and placed directly in the hands of the king.

During the recess of the Assembly, Franklin issued a pamphlet entitled "Cool Thoughts," in which he denounced the proprietary system of government as radically bad. The proprietaries, he said, constantly interfered, and blocked the wheels of wholesome legislation, so that when supplies were urgently demanded for the defense of the colony they invariably replied, "Unless our private interests in certain particulars are secured, nothing shall be done." For this reason Franklin advised his fellow-citizens to petition the king "to take this province under his Majesty's immediate protection and government."

This proposition roused the proprietary party to strain every nerve against Franklin, and in the election of members of the Assembly, in 1764, he was defeated by a majority of about twenty-five votes out of four thousand. Their

victory, however, was dearly bought, for when the Assembly met they at once appointed Franklin to draft a petition such as he had suggested, and they furthermore chose him to be the special agent of Pennsylvania to carry the petition to England, and present it to the king.1

Less than a fortnight afterwards [Nov. 7, 1764], Franklin left Philadelphia for Chester, escorted by about three hundred citizens, who accompanied him to the place of embarkation. From on board ship he wrote his daughter, Sally, "The affectionate leave taken of me by so many friends at Chester was very endearing. God bless them, and all Pennsylvania!" A month later he was established in his old lodgings at Mrs. Stevenson's, No. 27 Craven Street, London.

§ 16. Franklin's Second Mission to England, 1764-1775.

Franklin at once set about the business on which he had been sent, and was encouraged to believe that the crown would listen favorably to the petition for the proposed change of the government of Pennsylvania. But before the matter could be properly considered, a question arose which engaged the entire attention of both England and America to the exclusion of every other political subject. The French War had cost the people of Great Britain many millions. Taxes had in consequence risen to such a height and were levied on so many articles that the prime minister confessed that he did not know where to impose another penny. The distress of the country under such a

1 This petition did not propose depriving the proprietaries of their governing power without making them equitable compensation for the change. Two agents were chosen by the colony- Franklin and Norris - to present this petition, but the mission finally devolved on Franklin alone.