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
One afternoon [he tells us in the _Autobiography_] in
the height of this public quarrel, we met in the
street. "Franklin," says he, "you must go home with me
and spend the evening; I am to have some company that
you will like"; and, taking me by the arm, he led me to
his house. In gay conversation over our wine, after
supper, he told us, jokingly, that he much admir'd the
idea of Sancho Panza, who, when it was proposed to give
him a government, requested it might be a government of
_blacks_, as then, if he could not agree with his
people, he might sell them. One of his friends, who sat
next to me, says, "Franklin, why do you continue to
side with these damn'd Quakers? Had you not better sell
them? The Proprietor would give you a good price." "The
Governor," says I, "has not yet _blacked_ them enough."
He, indeed, had laboured hard to blacken the Assembly
in all his messages, but they wip'd off his colouring
as fast as he laid it on, and plac'd it, in return,
thick upon his own face; so that, finding he was likely
to be negrofied himself, he, as well as Mr. Hamilton,
grew tir'd of the contest, and quitted the Government.
All these disputes originated in the instructions given by the
Proprietaries to their Governors not to approve any tax measure enacted by
the Assembly that did not expressly exempt their estates; conduct which
Franklin justly terms in the _Autobiography_ "incredible meanness."
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