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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

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Church matters, seemed to strike a new note in American theology. "The end of all good government", he maintained, "was to cultivate humanity and promote the happiness of all, and the good of every man in all his rights, his life, liberty, estate, honour, without injury or abuse to any." Hitherto there had been little achievement in the way of a literature on American soil. The first American newspaper was started in 1690, but it was short-lived. The Boston Newsletter followed in 1704. It would seem from the evidence of John Dunton, a travelling bookseller who was in Boston at the time that Andros was governor, that there were, as early as this, no less than thirteen booksellers in Boston who seem to have prospered very fairly in the business. In 1741 Benjamin Franklin began the issue of his general magazine and chronicle. T. Prince's Chronological History of New England in the form of Annals, vol. 1, 1736, though it has been called the first scientific American history, was for its author only a failure and disappointment. The main direction in which the colonial world was moving was political, and it was in the school of politics that public men, especially Virginians, evolved that robust if somewhat florid style in the manufacture of State Papers which at a later date called forth the admiration of Chatham.

Still the humanities were not wholly neglected, and in this direction the versatile Benjamin Franklin played a leading part. It was he who set on foot small circles of students who should meet together and discuss the serious problems of life and knowledge. It is pleasant to read of him, still an obscure young printer, summoned to a conference with Burnet, the good governor of New York, simply to discuss literary questions. When we consider, moreover, the work achieved by Franklin in the direction of scientific research and in its organisation, quite apart from his work in the political field, we cannot over-estimate his place among the builders of a new American nationality. This work was largely unconscious, and Franklin was no doubt honest when he insisted upon colonial particularism as among the causes which must render impossible a disruption of the Empire; but none the less the leaven was at work with its momentous consequences. Franklin himself, as early as December 1754, had protested in a letter to Shirley against the idea of the colonies being taxed by an Act of a Parliament wherein they had no representative.i

The attitude of the American colonists towards the British, not very long before the final break, is shown by the experiences of the Rev. A. Burnaby, an intelligent clergyman whose comments prove him to have been a fairly impartial witness. His account of the quarrel over the payment of the clergy is singularly fair and dispassionate. Still even he was bound to confess that the public, or political, character of the Virginians corresponded with their private one: 1 Correspondence of W. Shirley, Governor of Massachusetts, 1731-60 (ed. Lincoln), 11, 103–7.

they were haughty and jealous of their liberties, impatient of restraint and could scarcely bear the thought of being controlled by any superior power. Many of them considered the colonies as independent States, not connected with Great Britain otherwise than by having the same common king, and being bound to her by natural affection. The climate and external appearance of the country conspired to make them indolent, easy, and good-natured; extremely fond of society and much given to convivial pleasures. In consequence of this they seldom showed any spirit of enterprise or exposed themselves willingly to fatigue. Their authority over their slaves rendered them vain and imperious.1 Burnaby found the character of the inhabitants of Maryland much the same as that of the Virginians and the state of the two colonies nearly alike. He was specially enthusiastic over the progress made by Philadelphia. Only eighty years before its site was a wild and uncultivated desert, inhabited by nothing but savage beasts and men. It was now a city containing about 3000 houses and 18,000 or 20,000 inhabitants. It was built north and south upon the banks of the Delaware, being nearly two miles in length and threequarters of a mile in breadth. The streets were laid out with great regularity, in parallel lines intersected by others at right angles, with many handsome buildings. On each side of them there was a pavement of broad stones for foot passengers, and in most a causeway in the middle for carriages. Upon dark nights the city was well lighted, and watched by a patrol. There were more than a dozen places of religious worship, viz. two churches, three Quaker and two Presbyterian meeting houses, one Lutheran and one Dutch Calvinist and one Swedish church, one Romish chapel, one Anabaptist and one Moravian meeting house. There was also an academy or college originally built for a tabernacle for Mr Whitefield. At the south end of the city there was a battery mounting thirty guns, but, as was natural in a Quaker colony, this was in a state of decay. The city was in a very flourishing state, inhabited by merchants, artists, tradesmen and persons of all occupations. There was a public market held twice a week upon Wednesday and Saturday, almost equal to that of Leadenhall. The streets were crowded with people, and the river with vessels. Houses were so dear that they would let for £100 currency per annum, and lots not above thirty feet in breadth and a hundred in length sold for £1000 sterling. There were several docks upon the river and about twenty-five vessels were built there annually. Burnaby counted upon the stocks at one time no less than seventeen, many of them three-masted vessels. Arts and sciences were yet in their infancy. There were some few persons who had discovered a taste for music and painting, and the study of philosophy seemed to

1 Burnaby, A., Travels through the Middle Settlements of North America, 1759-60, 1, 71415; Ibid. 1, 728-31.

2 Ibid. 1, 726.

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be daily gaining ground. An excellent library propagated a taste for literature which the college helped to form and cultivate. This college Burnaby declared to be by far the best school for learning throughout America.

The Pennsylvanians were a frugal and industrious people; not remarkably courteous and hospitable to strangers unless particularly recommended to them, but, like the denizens of most commercial cities, rather the reverse. They were great republicans and in their ideas of independency had fallen into the same errors as most of the other colonies. They were by far the most enterprising people upon the continent. As they consisted of several nations and talked several languages, they were aliens in some respects to Great Britain, nor could it be expected that they should have the same filial attachment to her as her own immediate offspring had; however, they were quiet and concerned themselves with little except about getting money. In Burnaby's opinion the women were much more agreeable and accomplished than the men. He found Pennsylvania in a very flourishing condition, the country being well cultivated. Till the last war the people had been exempt from taxes, and it was not without difficulty that the Quakers were prevailed upon to grant any supplies for the defence of the frontiers which were exposed to the ravages of Indians. It was not from principle, according to the men of the frontiers, that they refused them, but from self-interest as they were not themselves exposed to these incursions. The Quakers had much the greatest influence in the Assembly and were supported there by the Dutch and Germans, who were as adverse to taxes as themselves. Burnaby was careful to note the long-standing quarrel between the people and the proprietary on the question of the taxation of the proprietors' lands.1

According to Burnaby the inhabitants of New York in their character very much resembled the Pennsylvanians, more than half of them being Dutch, and almost all traders. They were habitually frugal, industrious and parsimonious. Being however of different nations, different languages, and different religions, it was almost impossible to give them any precise or determinate character. The province was flourishing, in spite of being burdened with taxes and a large public debt. An extensive trade was carried on to many parts of the world, particularly to the West Indies, and New York was further enriched by being the central rendezvous for the British troops. Burnaby gave a very low character to the Rhode Islanders, but he admitted that owing to illness he had not been in a position to see much of the colony. According to him the private people were cunning, deceitful and selfish; they lived almost entirely by unfair and illicit trading. Their magistrates were partial and corrupt, and he who had the greatest influence was generally found to have the

1 Burnaby, 1, 731-2.

fairest cause. Were the governor to interpose his authority or to refuse flags of truce he would at once lose his place.1

Burnaby was not likely to be prejudiced in favour of Massachusetts, but he recognised that arts and sciences had made a greater progress in Boston than in any other town in America. The influence of Harvard College had been great, and the arts were undeniably more advanced in Massachusetts Bay than in Pennsylvania or New York. The public buildings were of a higher order of architecture and there was a more general turn for painting, music and the belles lettres. Burnaby found the character of the inhabitants much improved in comparison with what it had been, but Puritanism and a spirit of persecution were not yet totally extinguished. The gentry of both sexes were hospitable and good-natured. There was an air of civility in their behaviour, though it was constrained by formality and preciseness.

Among the lower class of the people was found in an extreme degree that inquisitiveness which according to English travellers in the first half of the nineteenth century was characteristic of Americans generally. "I was told", Burnaby writes, "of a gentleman of Philadelphia who, in travelling through the provinces of New England, having met with many impertinences from this extraordinary turn of character, at length fell upon an expedient almost as extraordinary to get rid of them. He had observed, when he went into an ordinary, that every individual of the family had a question or two to propose to him relative to his history, and that till each was satisfied, and they had conferred and compared together their information, there was no possibility of procuring any refreshment. He therefore the moment he went into any of these places enquired for the master, the mistress, the sons, the daughters, the men servants and the maid servants and having assembled them all together he began in this manner: 'Worthy people, I am B. [enjamin] F.[ranklin] of Philadelphia, by trade a and a bachelor; I have some relations at Boston, to whom I am going to make a visit; my stay will be short, and I shall then return and follow my business, as a prudent man ought to do. This is all I know of myself and all I can possibly inform you of; I beg therefore that you will have pity upon me and my horse, and give us both some refreshment.'"2

Burnaby tells an amusing story to illustrate the persistency of the prejudice in favour of the observance of the Sabbath. A captain on one of His Majesty's ships of war returning from a cruise on a Sunday was welcomed at the waterside by his wife. The captain on landing kissed her. This, as there were several spectators present, gave great offence and was considered as an act of indecency and a flagrant 1 These flags of truce enabled merchants to go to the French West India islands in order to exchange prisoners, the real scope and design of the voyage being to carry on a prohibited trade with the French.

2 Burnaby, 1, 747.

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BURNABY'S TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA 811

profanation of the Sabbath. Next day, therefore, he was summoned before the magistrates who, with many severe rebukes and pious exhortations, ordered him to be publicly whipped. The captain underwent his punishment like a man, but on the day of his final departure for England he invited the principal magistrates and select men to dine with him on board his ship. They accepted the invitation and had a most convivial entertainment. At the moment of setting sail the captain, after taking an affectionate farewell, accompanied them up on deck where the boatswain and crew were ready to receive them. He there thanked them afresh for the civilities they had shown him, of which he said he should have an eternal remembrance, and to which he wished it had been in his power to have made a more adequate return. One point of civility only remained to be adjusted between them which, as it was in his power, so he meant most fully to recompense to them. He then reminded them of what had passed, and, ordering the crew to pinion them, had them brought one by one to the gangway where the boatswain stripped off their shirts and with a cat-of-nine-tails laid on the back of each forty stripes save one. They were then amidst the shouts and acclamations of the crew shoved into their boats; and the captain immediately getting under weigh sailed for England.1 This anecdote does not sound very trustworthy, but at least it illustrates contemporary opinion with regard to the relations between England and Massachusetts.

In his final summing up Burnaby traverses the conclusion already becoming popular, that empire was travelling westward, so that in time America would give law to the rest of the world. America was formed for happiness but not for empire. In a course of 1200 miles he had not seen a single object that solicited charity, but he had seen insuperable causes of weakness which would necessarily prevent it from being a powerful State. That he was proved to be wrong did not detract from the force of many of his arguments.

With the economic effects of the navigation laws we have here nothing to do; still less with their influence upon political developments; but, if the whole system was honeycombed with corruption, the moral effects of their constant evasion must have been disastrous. It was not merely that an illicit trade grew up when England was at war with Holland or France; by which means trading with the enemy developed and flourished. There was the further effect that buccaneering and piracy were winked at. A broad distinction must be drawn between privateering and piracy. Privateers were of assistance to the Royal Navy as late as Saunders's expedition against Quebec.2 Buccaneering, however, naturally degenerated into downright piracy. These pirates and sea rovers, when prosecuted, generally escaped scot free through the partiality of juries. Fletcher, the governor of New York, and his council were in close communion with these gentry, 1 Burnaby, 1, 748-9. 2 Kimball, 1, 80.

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