Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow DLX: TO JOSEPH GALLOWAY - The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. VI Letters and Misc. Writings 1772-1775

Return to Title Page for The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. VI Letters and Misc. Writings 1772-1775

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Political Theory

DLX: TO JOSEPH GALLOWAY - Benjamin Franklin, The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. VI Letters and Misc. Writings 1772-1775 [1904]

Edition used:

The Works of Benjamin Franklin, including the Private as well as the Official and Scientific Correspondence, together with the Unmutilated and Correct Version of the Autobiography, compiled and edited by John Bigelow (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904). The Federal Edition in 12 volumes. Vol. VI (Letters and Misc. Writings 1772-1775).

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


DLX

TO JOSEPH GALLOWAY

London, 18 February, 1774.

Dear Friend:—

The acts of the February session, 1773, are at last presented, of which I have lately acquainted the committee.1 They are now before the Board of Trade. I do not yet hear of any objection to the paper-money bill, and hope there can be none that we shall not get over. I observe there is no declaration of the value of the bills, whether proclamation or sterling. Possibly, if this should be taken notice of, it may be thought too loose and uncertain; but it may escape their observation, and, if necessary you can by a little supplement ascertain it.

The treatment of the tea in America has excited great wrath here; but how that will vent itself is not yet known, except that some part of it has fallen upon me; perhaps from a suspicion that I instigated the opposition to its importation. This, however, is not the given reason. My returning Hutchinson’s and Oliver’s letters to Boston is held out to the public as the great offence for which I am deprived of my office. I will explain to you my conduct in that matter.

Those letters, which had, at the time, been shown about here to several persons, fell into the hands of a gentleman, who produced them to me, to convince me of the truth of a fact, the possibility of which I had in conversation denied; namely, that the sending troops to Boston, and other measures so offensive to the people of New England, did not arise from any inimical disposition in this country towards them, but were projected, proposed, and solicited by some of the principal and best esteemed of their own people. I was convinced accordingly by perusing those letters, and thought it might have a good effect if I could convince the leaders there of the same truth, since it would remove much of their resentment against Britain as a harsh, unkind ——1

[1 ]The acts of the Pennsylvania Assembly, sent over to be approved by the king.

[1 ]The remainder of the letter is lost.