The Petition for the Removal of Hutchinson

These measures gave the ministers just apprehensions of open rebellion in America. The loyalty of the French in Canada, who were nearly all Roman Catholics, was not assured. It was a matter of vital importance to the government that their loyalty should be secured. So the King and Parliament, for state purposes, performed an inconsistent act. A bill was passed by the latter and confirmed by the former, which sanctioned the "free exercise of the religion of the Church of Rome, and confirmed to the clergy of that church their accustomed dues and rights." That King and Parliament, who would not acknowledge the legal existence of a Roman Catholic in Ireland, now, by the Quebec Act, so called, acknowledged the legal existence of a whole Roman Catholic state within the realm of England. Why? Because from the River St. Lawrence the government might more easily send instruments to enslave the English-American colonies than from any other point.

We have observed that the petition from Massachusetts to the king, praying for the removal of the governor and lieutenant-governor of that province, was laid before the Privy Council by the monarch; also that Franklin had taken the whole responsibility of the act of sending to Boston the offensive letters of Hutchinson, Oliver, and others. His candid public avowal--" I alone am the person who obtained and transmitted to Boston the letters in question," without explanation, raised a storm of indignation against him from almost every quarter, and led the government into acts of petty malice unworthy of a great nation. Franklin was then, and had been for some time, postmaster-general of the American colonies--an office of distinction and profit to the holder. This office and his reputation were now imperiled by his manly act.

On Saturday, the 8th of January, 1774, Franklin received a notice from the Secretary of the Privy Council, that "the Lords of the Committee for Plantation Affairs," would meet at the Cockpit, on Tuesday following, to take into consideration the petition from Massachusetts, and requested his attendance. Franklin immediately consulted Mr. Bollan, a lawyer of some distinction, who, in America, had married a daughter of Governor Shirley, and had been agent in England for the province of Massachusetts. In 1769, Mr. Bollan procured from a member of Parliament a large number of letters written by Governor Bernard and others calumniating the people of Boston, and, as in duty bound, he sent them to the Massachusetts Assembly. This proper act had been denounced by Lord North, in Parliament, and Mr. Bollan felt a sympathy for Franklin, and agreed to accompany him to the meeting. Less than twenty-four hours before that meeting, Franklin received a notice that Mr. Mauduit, agent for the crown-officers in Boston, had obtained leave to be heard by counsel in their behalf at that meeting. Mr. Bollan was then induced to appear as Franklin's counsel; but when he arose to speak in favor of the petition, some of the Lords objected to him as legally disqualified to act, and he was set aside. Then Franklin presented the resolutions of the Massachusetts Assembly, which had been sent with the petition. These were read; but when the letters which had caused the petition and resolution were brought up, Wedderburne, the solicitor-general, appeared as counsel for the governor, and interposed many objections to their reception. Franklin, being without counsel, asked and obtained leave for a postponement of the case, that he might procure for the Assembly the services of a competent lawyer.

On the 29th of January, Franklin was again before the Privy Council. He was accompanied by Mr. Dunning, a former solicitor-general, as counsellor. Intimations had been given that Wedderburne would, on this occasion, chastise Franklin most severely for the part he took in exposing the letters which had induced the petition, and "an immense crowd," Franklin wrote, were present to enjoy the scene. No less than thirty-five peers were there. When Dunning had finished his plea in favor of the petition, Wedderburne arose. After giving an outline sketch of the political history of the colonies, which was marked by ignorance or misrepresentation, the solicitor-general fell upon Franklin with severe, unjust, and often coarse invective. He accused him of obtaining the letters clandestinely; and even after the solicitor admitted that they were genuine, he made insinuations that they might be forgeries, asserting that they were sent to widen the breach between the colonists and the government. "Amidst tranquil events," said the solicitor, "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'--