resumed, and referred to the Privy Council, who ordered the respective agents to attend with counsel, though not desired on the part of the Province, on Saturday last. Thirty-five Lords were assembled besides those in office. It was reported that Lord Camden was to have been there; but he told me yesterday that it was occasioned by some conversation he had with the President, and that he abided decidedly by his old principles. Mr. Dunning asked, on the part of his clients, the reason of his being ordered to attend, and spoke shortly on the general object of the Petition; which meant no prosecution, but to convey the sense of the people to the throne. Mr. Wedderburne, under the pretext of reply, and the encouragement of the judges—the indecency of whose behaviour exceeded, as is agreed on all hands, that of any committee of election[1]—entered largely into the constitution and temper of the Province, and concluded by a most scurrilous invective against Dr. Franklin; occasioned, as Dr. Franklin says, by some matter of private animosity; as Mr. Wedderburne says, by his attachment to his deceased friend Mr. Whateley,[2] the publication of whose correspondence contributed to inflame the assembly to their late resolutions; and others say, it is the opening of a new plan of American government. The resolution of Council is not yet public, but is generally understood to be as much in favour of the governor and as discouraging to the province as words can make it; and on Tuesday Dr. Franklin was dismissed the office of post-master for America, by a letter dated the preceding day.
"Lord Buckingham, the same day, moved the Lords, that his Majesty should order the Boston correspondence
- ↑ The same statement is found in a letter of November 10th, 1802, from Dr. Priestley, who was present with Burke on the above occasion.
- ↑ The invective of Wedderburne concluded as follows: "Amidst these tranquil events, here is a man who, with the utmost insensibility of remorse, stands up and avows himself the author of all. I can compare him only to Zanga, in Dr. Young's Revenge,—
'Know, then, 'twas I—
I forged the letter—I dispos'd the picture—
I hated—I despis'd—and I destroy.'I ask, my Lords, whether the revengeful temper attributed to the bloody African is not surpassed by the coolness and apathy of the wily American?"
