COMMENTARIES, 3 DECEMBER 1787

have no Objection to hearing him conclude, as follows-"On the
Whole, I cannot but think, the more the Proposal is considered, of (an
humble Petition to the) King, (to take this Province under his imme-
diate Protection and Government,) the more unanimously we shall go
into it. We are chiefly People of (three Countries:) British Spirits can
no longer bear the Treatment they have received, nor will they put on
Chains prepared for them by a fellow Subject. And the Irish and Ger-
mans have felt too severely the Oppressions of (hard-hearted Land-
lords) and (arbitrary Princes,) to wish to see, in the proprietaries of
Pennsylvania, both united, &c."7-Had he said,-"Nor will they put
on Chains prepared for them by fellow Citizens," it might, perhaps,
have been considered as prophetic of the present Era.-Of this in-
tended Change of Government, in Pennsylvania, Mr. Dickenson, in a
Publication, speaks as follows,-"Benjamin Franklin, Esq. was accord-
ingly chosen Speaker, and in the Afternoon of the same Day, signed
the Petition, as one of his first Acts; an Act which - but Posterity
will best be able to give it a Name!"8-If Mr. Dickenson's Opinion, of
the Doctor's Conduct, was then just, which I believe all honest, un-
prejudiced Men thought it was, must not the Language we now speak,
become much more copious and expressive than it is, to enable Pos-
terity to give a proper Name to their late joint Act, the new Constitu-
tion, as it is called?
I have been the more particular on these Gentlemen's Conduct, as
I perceive that much Stress is laid, by some Writers, on their Patriotism
&c. especially the Doctor's; and many at this time in your City, either
from a State of Minority, or their former Residence, cannot be ac-
quainted with all the Facts and Circumstances which I have produced.
That Dr. Franklin countenanced and encouraged the Stamp Act, I have
had sufficient Proof from several of his most intimate Friends; from his
Conduct in favoring unasked, as they said, several of those Friends Ap-
pointments for carrying that Act into Execution,9 and, lastly, from sev-
eral Letters to some of those very Persons who were appointed: I saw
a Letter of the Doctor's own Writing, in the Hands of his Attorney, in your
City, wherein he was directed to acquaint the Printer of the New-York
Journal, the late Mr. John Holt, of most respected memory, that, if he per-
sisted in printing against the Ministry, he must not expect that his Pa-
pers would be permitted to circulate by the Post-riders; and this whilst
the Doctor was in England, and the Execution of the Stamp Act was in
Suspence. But Mr. Holt was neither to be cajoled nor intimidated; he
wrote the Doctor, and told his Agent, that, if his Papers were refused
the same Conveyance as the other Printers, he would appeal to the

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