The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin/Section Fifty Nine
Section Fifty Nine[edit]
Our new Governor, Capt. Denny, brought over for me the before mentioned Medal from the Royal Society, which he presented to me at an Entertainment given him by the City. He accompanied it with very polite Expressions of his Esteem for me, having, as he said been long acquainted with my Character. After Dinner, when the Company as was customary at that time, were engag’d in Drinking, he took me aside into another Room, and acquainted me that he had been advis’d by his Friends in England to cultivate a Friendship with me, as one who was capable of giving him the best Advice, & of contributing most effectually to the making his Administration easy. That he therefore desired of all things to have a good Understanding with me; and he begg’d me to be assur’d of his Readiness on all Occasions to render me every Service that might be in his Power. He said much to me also of the Proprietor’s good Dispositions towards the Province, and of the Advantage it might be to us all, and to me in particular, if the Opposition that had been so long continu’d to his Measures, were dropped, and Harmony restor’d between him and the People, in effecting which it was thought no one could be more serviceable than myself, and I might depend on adequate Acknowledgements & Recompences, &c. &c. The Drinkers finding we did not return immediately to the Table, sent us a Decanter of Madeira, which the Governor made liberal Use of, and in proportion became more profuse of his Solicitations and Promises. My Answers were to this purpose, that my Circumstances, Thanks to God, were such as to make Proprietary Favors unnecessary to me; and that being a Member of the Assembly I could not possibly accept of any; that however I had no personal Enmity to the Proprietary, and that whenever the public Measures he propos’d should appear to be for the Good of the People, no one should espouse and forward them more zealously than myself, my past Opposition having been founded on this, that the Measures which had been urg’d were evidently intended to serve the Proprietary Interest with great Prejudice to that of the People. That I was much obliged to him (the Governor) for his Professions of Regard to me, and that he might rely on every thing in my Power to make his Administration as easy to him as possible, hoping at the same time that he had not brought with him the same unfortunate Instructions his Predecessor had been hamper’d with. On this he did not then explain himself. But when he afterwards came to do Business with the Assembly they appear’d again, the Disputes were renewed, and I was as active as ever in the Opposition, being the Penman first of the Request to have a Communication of the Instructions, and then of the Remarks upon them, which may be found in the Votes of the Time, and in the Historical Review I afterwards publish’d; but between us personally no Enmity arose; we were often together, he was a Man of Letters, had seen much of the World, and was very entertaining & pleasing in Conversation. He gave me the first Information that my old Friend Jas Ralph was still alive, that he was esteem’d one of the best political Writers in England, had been employ’d in the Dispute between Prince Frederic and the King, and had obtain’d a Pension of Three Hundred a Year; that his Reputation was indeed small as a Poet, Pope having damn’d his Poetry in the Dunciad, but his Prose was thought as good as any Man’s.
The Assembly finally, finding the Proprietaries obstinately persisted in manacling their Deputies with Instructions inconsistent not only with the Privileges of the People, but with the Service of the Crown, resolv’d to petition the King against them, and appointed me their Agent to go over to England, to present & support the Petition. The House had sent up a Bill to the Governor granting a Sum of Sixty Thousand Pounds for the King’s Use, (10,000£ of which was subjected to the Orders of the then General Lord Loudon,) which the Governor absolutely refus’d to pass in Compliance with his Instructions. I had agreed with Captain Morris of the Packet at New York for my Passage, and my Stores were put on board, when Lord Loudon arriv’d at Philadelphia, expressly, as he told me, to endeavor an Accommodation between the Governor and Assembly, that his Majesty’s Service might not be obstructed by their Dissensions: Accordingly he desir’d the Governor & myself to meet him, that he might hear what was to be said on both sides. We met and discuss’d the Business. In behalf of the Assembly I urg’d all the Arguments that may be found in the public Papers of that Time, which were of my Writing, and are printed with the Minutes of the Assembly & the Governor pleaded his Instructions, the Bond he had given to observe them, and his Ruin if he disobey’d: Yet seem’d not unwilling to hazard himself if Lord Loudon would advise it. This his Lordship did not choose to do, tho’ I once thought I had nearly prevail’d with him to do it; but finally he rather chose to urge the Compliance of the Assembly; and he entreated me to use my Endeavors with them for that purpose; declaring he could spare none of the King’s Troops for the Defense of our Frontiers, and that if we did not continue to provide for that Defense ourselves they must remain expos’d to the Enemy. I acquainted the House with what had pass’d, and presenting them with a Set of Resolutions I had drawn up, declaring our Rights, & that we did not relinquish our Claim to those Rights but only suspended the Exercise of them on this Occasion thro’ Force, against which we protested, they at length agreed to drop that Bill and frame another conformable to the Proprietary Instructions. This of course the Governor pass’d, and I was then at liberty to proceed on my Voyage: but in the meantime the Packet had sail’d with my Sea-Stores, which was some Loss to me, and my only Recompence was his Lordship’s Thanks for my Service, all the Credit of obtaining the Accommodation falling to his Share.