Louisiana capitolian., 1879-08-30
long sojourned, sustaining the claims
and rights Of his countrymen against
the aggressiOns Of the crown.

and rights Of his countrymen against
the aggressions Of the crown.
On his arrival nc visited the Gov
erllor at Amboy. Fifty years before
he had wandered through the ancient
thoroughfares destitute, sick and
fliendless. Now his son ruled there
in vice-regal state, and the printer
boy was welcomed with honor to the
palace Of a royal province.
But the father, undazzled, was
wiser than the son. During his visit
he laborcd zealously to draw the Gov
ernOr over to the side of the Colonies.
In many interviews, marked with
much warmth Of expression, each
failed to convince the other, and thus
they parted forever.
In January, l776, Gov. Franklin
had taken such u decided stand against
the rising colonists that the Provin-
cial Assembly determined to secure
him, Lord Stirling place guard at
his Aate, in Amboy, to prevent his es'
cape, and he became a virtual prison
er i'll the Government House. On the
18th of June he was formally arrested
by a body of militia under Col. Heard,
of Woodbridge, and carried to Bulling-
ton. Upon refusing to give his parole,
he was removed to East Windsor,
Conn, and placed in charge of Gov.
Trumbull. In April, l777, the Con-
gress ordered him into close confne-
ment for distributing British protec-
tions and pardons,
A month after his sons arrest, on
July 10, l776. Benjamin Franklin
again visited Perth Amboy, together
with John Adams and Edward Rlit
ledge. They represented the Cont
mental Congress in IN interview to be
held the next day with the Commits
sionerofGreat Britain, Lord Howe, at
the Billop House, opposite Amboy.
That night the committee lodged at
the Long Ferry Tavern, near by the
Government House. The situations
were now changed. The son was q
prisoner, his authority destroyed, and
the regal power Of Britain dethroned
in the colonies. The father held in
his hands the dcstinics of a continent.
While William Franklin was held
in confinement in Connecticut, his
wife found refuge in New York. Here
she died July. %, 1878. Her memorial
tablet is in the cllancel of st. Panls
Episcopal church, in New York city,
and is thus inscribed:
"Beneath tho altar of this church
are deposited the remains of Mrs. Eliz-
abeth Franklin, wife Of His Exccllen-
cy William Franklin, Esq, late Gov
ernor, under Britannia Majesty, of the
Province of New Jersey. Compelled
by the adverse circumstances Of the
times to part from the husband she
loved, and ut length deprived of the
soothing hope of his speedy return,
she sank under accumulated distresses,
and departed this life on the 2Sth day
of July, l77S, in the 49th year of her
age.
Sincerity and Sensibility
Politeness and Atlability
Godliness and Charity
were
with Sense refined and Person ele-
CANT in her united. For q grateful
remembrance of her affectiOnate ten
derness and constant performance of
all the duties ia
Good wife,
"This Monument is erected in the
year 1857. BY him who knew her
worth and still laments her loss"
Gov. Franklin was released on No
vember |, l77s, and came to New
York, where he remained till 1882,
being part Of the time the president
of the "Honorable Board of AssOcia-
ted Royalists" in the city. At the
close of tho war he was exilcd and
went to England, where he received
pension. He appears as q promi-
ncnt figure in Benjamin Vests cele-
bratcd picture Of the "Reception OF
the American Royalists by Great Bri-
tain in the year 1888"
The son became an exile. The
father represented the United States
at the Court of France. They never
met again. There wasno intercourse
between them during the whole of the
revolutionary war, and the engage
mcnt continued even aftcrward to a
great degree. In DR.. Franklin's will,
| after blqueathing to his son his lands
i'll Nova Scotia, and certain books and
papers, be thus adds:
e"Thr part he acted against me in
the late war, which is of public noto-
ricty, will account for my leaving him
no more of an estate he endcavOred
| tn de,,rive mo ofn