Benjamin Franklin; Self-Revealed, Volume 2 (of 2): A Biographical and Critical Study Based Mainly on his own WritingsBruce, Wiliam Cabell
History
Benjamin Franklin; Self-Revealed, Volume 2 (of 2): A Biographical and Critical Study Based Mainly on his own Writings
Bruce, Wiliam Cabell
Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790
If a vast territory [said His Majesty's Governor of
Georgia, in a letter to the Commissioners, which is
quoted in the Report], be granted to any set of
gentlemen, who really mean to people it, and actually
do so, it must draw and carry out a great number of
people from Great Britain; and I apprehend they will
soon become a kind of separate and independent people,
and who will set up for themselves; that they will soon
have manufactures of their own; that they will neither
take supplies from the mother country, nor from the
provinces, at the back of which they are settled; that,
being at a distance from the seat of government,
courts, magistrates, &c., &c., they will be out of the
reach and control of law and government; that it will
become a receptacle and kind of asylum for offenders,
who will fly from justice to such new country or
colony.
To this report, which sought to confine America to practically the same
limits as those fixed by the French, Franklin, with his knowledge of
American conditions, and breadth of vision, made such a crushing reply
that, when the report and the reply came before the Privy Council, the
application for the grant, partly because of the strength of Franklin's
reply, and, partly from dislike to Hillsborough, was approved. Mortified by
this action, Hillsborough resigned his office, and was succeeded by Lord
Dartmouth, the nobleman described by Cowper as "One who wears a coronet,
and prays."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account