to prevent his appointment as agent of the colony, published a remarkable series of letters known as "The Farmer's Letters." They sharply criticised the policy of Great Britain respecting the trade of the colonies. Franklin read them while in London, saw their excellence, and immediately had them republished there with a highly commendatory preface by himself. This unexpected return of good for evil was too much for his old enemy, and from that time Franklin probably had no sincerer friend than John Dickinson, who was in truth both an able and an honest

man.

ness.

Not very long after this, Franklin was appointed agent for New Jersey, and also for Massachusetts, but Lord Hillsborough, Secretary for America, refused to recognize him in his new capacity, and treated him with great rudeAs it was evident that the British government had no intention of removing any of the oppressive regulations respecting America, Franklin published in 1773 his "Rules for reducing a Great Empire to a Small One." His advice, which was addressed to all political ministers, but which had especial reference to "the late minister," Lord Hillsborough, began as follows:

"In the first place, gentlemen, you are to consider that a great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges. Turn your attention, therefore, first to your remotest provinces,1 that as you get rid of them, the next may follow in order.”

He then goes on to give ironical rules for governing the colonies by severer laws and depriving them of the common rights enjoyed by British citizens at home. By so doing they will gradually weaken the ties which hold the colonies

1 That is, to America.

to the mother country. In doing this, they will “act like a wise gingerbread baker, who, to facilitate a division, cuts his dough half through in those places where, when baked, he would have it broken to pieces."

Franklin next says that by imposing burdensome taxes, treating the colonies as though they were always inclined to revolt, sending them tyrannical governors and the like, they will increase the discontent and ill-feeling till the conviction strengthens "that you are no longer fit to govern them." Finally, he adds: "Lastly invest the general of your army in the provinces with great and unconstitutional powers, and free him from the control of even your own civil governors . . who knows... he may take it into his head to set up for himself? If he should, and you have carefully practiced the few excellent rules of mine, take my word for it, all the provinces will immediately join him, and you will that day. get rid of the trouble of governing them, and all the plagues attending their commerce and connection from thenceforth and forever." 1

The year before the publication of the famous "Rules" a number of letters, written by Governor Hutchinson of Massachusetts, and others, to a member of the English Parliament, fell into Franklin's hands. These letters related to public matters, and were calculated to do the colonies great harm by their misrepresentation of facts. Franklin sent the letters to the chairman of the Committee of Correspondence in Massachusetts with the request that he should show them to several prominent gentlemen, whom he named, and then return them to him. But in some inexplicable way the letters, contrary to Franklin's desire and without his knowledge or consent, got into print

1 For the whole of the Rules see Bigelow's Franklin's Works.

and were offered for sale both in America and in London. The excitement over them was great. Franklin at once came forward and publicly acknowledged that it was he who sent the letters to Massachusetts, thus taking all responsibility for the act upon himself. At a meeting of the privy council which he shortly after attended, he presented a petition for the removal of Hutchinson. In reply the solicitor-general attacked him in the most abusive manner, ridiculing his reputation as a man of letters by saying with a sneer that it must be "a man of three letters," or in other words, a thief.1 Franklin submitted to the torrent of invective without a word. The petition he had offered was contemptuously rejected, and furthermore he was ejected from his office of postmaster-general. Thus did the ministry express their opinion of the American philosopher and statesman. Pitt, now Earl of Chatham, also took occasion to express his. He said that Franklin was "an honor not to the English nation only, but to human nature."

In the meantime affairs in America had been rapidly growing worse. After the repeal of the Stamp Act, Parliament had imposed taxes on various colonial imports, but as the Americans not only refused to purchase the taxed articles, but had begun to smuggle them from Holland on an extensive scale, the British government found that they were getting little, if any, revenue under the new law. Finally, all of the taxes were taken off except that on tea, which was retained, partly for the purpose of aiding the halfbankrupt East India Company of London, which then had an enormous stock of tea on hand, but chiefly to maintain the right of the crown to tax the colonies independent of

1 A man of three letters; FUR, the Latin for thief.

their consent. The American people vowed that they would not buy the tea even at a greatly reduced price, and when several ships laden with it were sent to Boston in the winter of 1773, consigned to the son of that governor Hutchinson, about whose letters Franklin had had so much trouble, a body of citizens, disguised as Indians, emptied the hated herb into the harbor. The news of this act rendered the king furious. The port of Boston was ordered to be closed to all trade, and the charter of Massachusetts altered so that the government of the colony was taken out of the hands of the people and given to the officers of the crown.

The whole thirteen colonies now banded together to resist further oppression, and in 1774 the first Continental Congress met at Philadelphia; it drew up resolutions in which the colonists, who were still loyal subjects of Great Britain, claimed the right to tax and govern themselves. Congress also sent a petition to the king, humbly begging redress for their grievances. Franklin, in company with two other American agents, presented this petition; but nothing was accomplished by it, and the ministry continued to insist that the rebellious colonists should be taught to obey, if necessary, at the point of the bayonet.

The Earl of Chatham urged Parliament to adopt conciliatory measures. In a memorable speech made early in 1775, he said: "The spirit which now resists your taxation in America is the same which formerly opposed loans,1 benevolences, and ship-money3 in England; the same

1 Loans: money borrowed by the king without security or interest, and paid, if at all, at his royal convenience.

2 Benevolences: these were extorted loans or gifts.

8 Ship-money: an illegal tax levied by Charles I. on pretense that it was

spirit which called all England on its legs, and by the Bill of Rights vindicated the English constitution; the same spirit which established the great fundamental, essential maxim of your liberties, that no subject of England shall be taxed but by his own consent.

"We shall be forced ultimately to retract; let us retract while we can, not when we must. I say we must necessarily undo these violent, oppressive acts; they must be repealed - you will repeal them . . . I stake my reputation on it I will consent to be taken for an idiot, if they are not finally repealed.

"To conclude, my lords, 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."

Franklin remained in London some months later, hoping to bring about an amicable understanding between the government and the colonies. He even offered that the tea destroyed should be paid for, providing that the oppressive restrictions on the Americans should be removed; but finding at last that his efforts were useless, he set sail for Pennsylvania in the spring of 1775.

§ 17. Franklin and the beginning of the Revolution, May 5, 1775, to Nov. 21, 1776.

While Franklin was on his way to America, the first blood of the Revolution had been shed at Lexington, and the farmers of Concord, gathered in defense of the military

necessary to build a navy. The money was, however, used for a wholly different purpose.