Title: Pennsylvania Assembly Committee: Report on the Proprietors’ Answer, 11 September 1753
From: Pennsylvania Assembly Committee
To:

In August 1751 the Assembly sent a representation to the Proprietors asking them to reconsider their refusal to share in the expenses of Indian treaties (see above, IV, 188). On May 23, 1753, the Assembly asked the governor if he had yet received an answer. He sent it to them the next day and it was laid upon the table. A committee which included Franklin was appointed a few days later to consider the Proprietors’ answer and prepare a report. When the committee presented its report, September 11, 1753, it was “read, unanimously approved of, and ordered to be deposited among the other Papers belonging to this House.” Only on December 31, 1754, were the representation of 1751, the Proprietors’ answer, and the committee report entered on the Assembly minutes and so made public. When printed with the minutes of that date the answer and the report on it were set in parallel columns; here the heading of the Proprietors’ answer is followed by the heading of the committee report and a prefatory note; then each numbered paragraph of the answer, set in italics, is followed by the corresponding paragraph of the report, set in roman.

The Proprietaries Answer to the Representation of the House of Representatives. Laid before the House, May 23, 1753.
Report on the Proprietaries Answer, &c.
September 11, 1753.
In Obedience to the Order of the House, your Committee have considered the Representation made by a former Assembly to the Proprietaries concerning Indian Affairs, with their Answer delivered to this House; and since all further Application to the Proprietaries on the Subject of that Representation is now forbidden, and they seem to require that their Answer should be put on the Minutes of Assembly, we are of Opinion that the Representation not hitherto made publick should accompany it, with such of the following Remarks made on each Paragraph of the said Answer as the House shall think proper.
Gentlemen,
1. The true and real Interest of the People whom you represent is, as it ought to be, the principal Object of our Concern: We shall, on all Occasions, shew them that we have it constantly in View: We will use our utmost Endeavours to procure it, at the Expence of our own private Fortunes, whenever it appears to us necessary; and, in considering the Matter of your Representation, shall endeavour to act such a Part as would be thought just, by Persons wholly disinterested, both with regard to us and them.
1. On the first Paragraph of the Answer, we shall just observe, that the Declaration it contains is a noble One, and worthy of the Rank our Proprietaries hold among us; we only wish that in the present Case they had thought fit to give a Proof of the Sincerity with which it is made, such as would have been satisfactory to others, since our Assemblies are esteemed interested Judges.
2. That the Representatives of the People are not so disinterested, seems most certain; wherefore, supposing they saw this Matter in a Light very different from that in which it appears to us, and that they were not actuated by any Inclination on the one Hand to oppose our Interest, or on the other to influence the weaker Part of the Electors by appearing zealous for theirs (which we would trust and hope is the Case) yet we may continue to differ in Sentiments from them on the Necessity of the desired Assistance, without being liable to any Imputation of neglecting the Interest of the Province in the Opinion of the World.
2. The Insinuation in the second Paragraph, as if the Assembly were actuated by any Inclination to oppose the Proprietary Interests, we look upon to be injurious; and as groundless as the other Supposition, that the Members might have in View their future Election, of which we shall take farther Notice when we come to the sixth Paragraph, where it is again repeated. No Instance can be given of that Assembly’s opposing, or attempting to oppose, the Proprietary Interest. It rather appears that they thought they were consulting those Interests in the very Point in Question, if it be consistent with the Proprietary Interest to have a good Understanding with the People; since the Representation expresly proposed a Method of preventing Misunderstandings for the future.
  3. After we had ordered our Governor to give you the Answer, which he did, to your former Application, we had no Reason to expect a Repetition of the Application directly to ourselves; as you might well suppose we had considered the Matter before we had returned our first Answer, and the Repeating the Request could only produce the Repeating the Answer; the Occasion for which does not appear to us. It is possible, that one Purpose may be, in order to shew, more publickly, this Difference in Opinion between us and yourselves; and if that was ever intended, it will be convenient that we should set this Matter in a clear Light, (altho’ it may make our Answer longer than we could wish) that the true State of the Matter may appear.
3. In the third Paragraph, the Representation is treated as a mere Repetition of a former Application, and therefore improper, as “repeating the Request could only produce the Repeating the Answer”: But the Representation appears to your Committee to contain, not only a Repetition of the Request, but new Reasons in Support of it, and Answers to such as had been given for refusing it. And such a Repetition of an Application we think justifiable in all Cases; except where we can be sure that the first Thoughts of the Persons apply’d to, are infallibly right; or if wrong, that they are incapable of hearing Reason.
  4. We did not speak our own Sentiments only when we before said, We were under no greater Obligation to contribute to the publick Charges than any Chief Governor of another Colony: That was the Opinion of the Lords of Trade, when, upon an Application made to the King, by many considerable Inhabitants of the Province, that he would be pleased to give some Orders for their Defence; the Counsel, employed by the Agent of the House of Representatives, insisted, that, if any such Preparations were necessary, the Proprietaries ought to be at the Expence of them: But their Lordships declared it their Opinion, That we were not obliged to be at any Expence of that Nature, more than any other Governor in Chief of the King’s Colonies.
4. With Regard to the Opinion said to be declared by the Lords of Trade, “that our Proprietaries were no more obliged to contribute to Publick Charges than any other Governor in Chief of the King’s Colonies;” your Committee presume to suppose their Lordships could only mean, that as Governor in Chief the Proprietaries were not obliged by Law; and not, that as Proprietaries they were not obliged in Equity. The latter is the Point at present in Dispute between the Proprietaries and People of Pennsylvania, tho’ in this Paragraph evaded. The Assembly mention no other Obligation but such as in their Opinion arises from Reason and Justice; they humbly submit their Reasons to the Proprietaries Consideration, and from their Equity only, they hope a Compliance with the Request. The Position understood as the Proprietaries would understand it, must as well hold good among the Governed as the Governors of the Colonies: For should the wealthiest Inhabitant say, he ought to pay no more towards publick Charges than any other Inhabitant, he would be right, considering him merely as an Inhabitant; but as a Possessor of Property, he would be wrong; and therefore Laws are made, obliging such as would not otherwise be just, to pay in Proportion to their Substance.
  5. We are sensible that our honour’d Father in the first Settlement of the Province, and at all Times after, was strictly careful to do Justice to the Indians, and purchased Land from them before it was settled; but, we believe, always at his own Charge; at least we do not find a single Instance of a Purchase having been made at the Expence of the People. So that what Share they had in such Purchases, we are at a Loss to know, other than the Benefits and Conveniences which arose from the mutual Exchange of friendly Offices with the Natives.
5. The fifth Paragraph seems intended to combat an Assertion that the Purchases from the Indians were made with the People’s Money. As we find no such Assertion in the Representation, we do not think it necessary at present to enquire how far, or in what Instances, the People have had a Share directly or indirectly in any such Purchases. The Representation only intimates, that the House conceived, Treaties for the Purchase of Land were made on more reasonable Terms to the Proprietaries for the Provincial Presents accompanying such Treaties: And that this was an additional Reason why the Proprietaries should bear a proportionable Part, at least, of the Expence of such Presents; since, besides their Share of “the common Benefits and Conveniencies, which arise from the mutual Exchange of Friendly Offices with the Indians,” they reap a particular Advantage to themselves, and That a very considerable One. This Reason we apprehend is not answered in the present Paragraph; it is only evaded, by changing the State of the Question. A Subtlety, in our Opinion, unworthy the Dignity of the Proprietaries and the Chief Governors of a Province.
  6. Had the necessary publick Charges amounted to more than the Revenue of the Province, and a general Tax been laid on the People to defray the same, there might then have been some Colour to desire that we should contribute; but as no such Tax has, for very many Years been, or need to be laid, and the Charge of Government amounts to little more than the one Half of the common and ordinary Revenue, the pressing thus unseasonably for our Contribution, appears, we conceive, as an Attempt to induce the weakest of the People to imagine yourselves to have an uncommon Regard to their Interests, and to be therefore the most proper Persons to be continued as their Representatives; and the Matters which might the rather induce us so to think, are the solemn Repetition of this Request, and treating it as if it was a Matter of great Value and Consequence; the Time of making your last Representation, just before an Election; and the printing the Report, and most extraordinary Resolutions, which were the Foundation of such your Representation, in your Votes, long before your Address could, by any Possibility, come to our Hands; which are such Matters as could not escape our Observation, and which would almost perswade us, that it was intended as an Address to the People, rather than to us.
6. On the sixth Paragraph we would observe, That the Request to the Proprietaries, that they would be pleased to bear a Part of Indian Expences, was founded on the supposed Equity of the Case; and that they would consent to settle the Proportion to be paid by them, was proposed as a Means of preventing Dissatisfactions between them and the People. To these Points, this Paragraph only answers, that the People are able enough to pay these Expences without the Assistance of the Proprietaries. This likewise seems to be starting a new Question, and one that is beside the present Purpose: For tho’ it were true that the People are able to pay, it does not follow that they should therefore pay unjustly, nor is it likely that they will be pleas’d and satisfied with so doing, for such a Reason. The Proprietaries are likewise able to pay, they have Revenue enough, but they do not think this a sufficient Reason even to pay a Part, why then should it be thought sufficient to induce us to pay the whole? The Charge contained in this Paragraph, “that the Application was only an Attempt to induce the weakest of the People to imagine the House had an uncommon Regard to their Interests, and were therefore the most proper Persons to be continued their Representatives at the ensuing Election”; your Committee think an absolute Mistake, and unsupported by the least Degree of Probability. For there had not been for some Years, nor was there expected to be, nor has there since been, any Contest at Elections between the Proprietary and popular Interests; nor if there had, would it have been necessary to take such Measures, the Proprietaries having, of late Years, no formidable Share of the People’s Love and Esteem. Nor was the supposed Address in Fact made to the People; for the Representation has never yet been published; nor were the Votes containing those Resolutions published till after the Election was over. Nor is the Situation of an Assembly-man here so advantageous as to make it worth his while to use Artifice for procuring a Re-election; for when the Smallness of the Allowance, the Expence of Living, the Time he is absent from his own Affairs, and other Inconveniences are considered, none will suppose he can be a Gainer by serving the Publick in that Station.
  7. Wherefore, on this Occasion, it is necessary that we should inform the People, through yourselves, their Representatives, that as, by the Constitution, our Consent is necessary to their Laws, at the same Time that they have an undoubted Right to such as are necessary for the Defence and real Service of the Country; so it will tend the better to facilitate the several Matters which must be transacted with us, for their Representatives to shew a Regard to us and our Interest: For, considering the Rank which the Crown has been pleased to give us in Pennsylvania, we shall expect from the Peoples Representatives, on all Occasions, a Treatment suitable thereto; and that, whilst we desire to govern the Province according to Law only, they should be as careful to support our Interests, as we shall always be to support theirs.
7. But whether Assembly-men may or may not expect any gainful Advantages from that Station, we find our Chief Governors informing us in pretty plain Terms in the seventh Paragraph, that they themselves are not without such Expectations from theirs. They tell us, “their Consent is necessary to our Laws, and that it will tend the better to facilitate the Matters which must be transacted with them, for the Representatives to shew a Regard to their Interest.” That is, as we understand it, tho’ the Proprietaries have a Deputy here, supported by the Province, who is or ought to be fully impower’d to pass all Laws necessary for the Service of the Country, yet, before we can obtain such Laws, we must facilitate their Passage, by paying Money for the Proprietaries which they ought to pay, or in some other Shape make it their particular Interest to pass them. We hope, however, that if this Practice has ever been begun, it will never be continued in this Province; and that, since, as this very Paragraph allows, we have an undoubted Right to such Laws, we shall be always able to obtain them from the Goodness of our Sovereign, without going to Market for them to a Subject.
Yet however easy it may be to understand that Part of this Paragraph which relates to the Proprietaries Interest, your Committee are at a Loss to conceive why, in the other Part of it, the People are to be acquainted, “that the Crown has been pleased to give the Proprietaries a Rank, and that they expect from the Representatives a Treatment suitable thereto.” We cannot find on perusing the Representation in Question, that it contains any Treatment unsuitable to their Rank. The Resolve of the House was, That to prevent Dissatisfactions on all Sides, they should be requested, in the most reasonable and most respectful Manner, to agree upon a Proportion of Indian Charges to be paid by them and the Province according to Justice: And it may be submitted to the Judgment of all impartial Persons, whether the Representation drawn in Pursuance of the Resolve, was not both reasonable in itself, and respectful in the Manner. It was not, as the Proprietaries represent it, an Address to the Publick. It is not to this Day made publick. It was a private Application to themselves, transmitted to them thro’ the Hands of their Governor. Their true Interest (which they will always find to consist in just, equitable and generous Measures, and in securing the Affections of their People) was consulted in it; and one suitable Means proposed to obtain that End. As to Rank, the Proprietaries may remember, that the Crown has likewise been pleased to give the Assemblies of this Province a Rank; a Rank which they hold, not by hereditary Descent, but as they are the voluntary choice of a free People, unbrib’d, and even unsollicited. But they are sensible that true Respect is not necessarily connected with Rank, and that it is only from a Course of Action suitable to that Rank they can hope to obtain it.
  8. We are truly concerned, that you lay us under the Necessity of acquainting the Publick with the State of the Revenue of the Province; you have, in Part done it already, by acknowledging the Amount of the Excise to be Three Thousand Pounds a Year. The Interest of the Paper Money, as we conceive, is more than that Sum, which makes the common Revenue of the Province above Six Thousand Pounds a Year; the annual Expence of Government for a Series of Years (including Indian Charges) amounts to little more than Half that Sum: The Interest is paid by People who, no Doubt, find greater Advantage in the Use of the Money than the Interest they pay for it, otherwise they would not be so sollicitous to be admitted to borrow as they always have been. That Interest Money therefore cannot, with any Propriety, be called a Tax laid on the Province, or a Burden on the Inhabitants. The Excise itself is not a general Tax, to which all the Inhabitants must contribute, as it is paid by such only who buy Wine and spirituous Liquors, under certain Quantities; so that many People pay nothing of that Tax. Of all this Revenue, about Four Hundred Pounds a Year has, on an Average for Twenty Years past, (and great Part of that Time during War) been expended in Presents to the Indians, and Charges on their Account; which we cannot conceive to be a large Sum, in Proportion to the Revenue of the Province, for so great and important a Service as that of keeping the United Nations of Indians in the Interest of Great-Britain: We believe every disinterested Person will think the Sum very small, and, from the Manner of its being raised, not at all burdensome to the People: Besides which, had not Half that Money been expended on those Accounts, it is most certain all the same Excise would have been paid.
8. Your Committee are quite surprized at the Concern the Proprietaries are pleased to express in their eighth Paragraph, on their being, as they say, laid under a Necessity of acquainting the Publick with the State of the Revenue of the Province: As if the State of that Revenue had ever been a Secret; when it is well known, and the Proprietaries themselves know, that the Publick Accounts are yearly settled, stated, printed, and published by the Assembly, and have been so for these Thirty Years past. Whatever private Reasons the Proprietaries may have to make a Secret of their Revenue, we know of none to make one of the Revenue of the Province, nor has it ever been attempted. Their following Observations, concerning the Nature of our Taxes, and the Distinction between general and particular Taxes, seem to your Committee not so just and accurate as might be expected: For we cannot conceive, that the Willingness of People to subject themselves to the Payment of Interest or Excise, by taking Money on Loan, or consuming spirituous Liquors, makes either the one or the other less a Tax. The Manner of laying a Tax, the easy Method of levying it, and the Benefits arising from the Disposition of it, may all tend to induce People to pay it willingly; yet it is still a Tax. And indeed all Taxes ought, upon the whole, to produce greater Good to a People, than the Money kept in their Pockets could do: In such Case, Taxes are no Burdens; but otherwise they are. Taxes, seemingly particular, are also more general than they are often supposed to be: The labouring Man must live: Excise the Materials of his Subsistence, and he generally finds Means to get more for his Labour.
After estimating our whole present Revenue, as if it had been the same for twenty Years past, and would certainly continue, tho’ the Proprietaries know it depends on temporary Acts near expiring, the Renewal of which is at best dubious, they conclude that Four Hundred Pounds a Year for Indian Expences is a small Sum, and that we are under no Necessity of being frugal, on this Account, of the Publick Money. This Four Hundred a Year is the Sum that they find has been paid on an Average for twenty Years past, and they take no Notice of its being a growing Charge, and that for the four last Years before the Representation, it amounted to near Twelve Hundred a Year, which we conceive disinterested Persons will think a very large Sum: And altho’ the same Excise might have been raised, if not Half that Money had been expended, it does not seem to us to follow, that the Proprietaries ought not to have paid their just Proportion of it. If the Sum be small, their Proportion of it must have been smaller: And the Money so sav’d might have been applied to some other Use, beneficial to the Publick; or have remained ready in the Treasury for any Emergency.

  9. The whole Sum paid, in twenty Years, for Indian Services, is not more than, on a common Computation, our Family has paid, in the same Time, for Duties and Excises here, for the Support of his Majesty’s Government; and which we choose to mention, in Answer to that Part of your Representation wherein you, unadvisedly, publish to the World, that our Estate, in America, is exempt from the Burdens borne by our Fellow Subjects in Great-Britain; such Matter might much more properly have been avoided; and at the same Time that we shew you, that we do pay all other Taxes here, that on Land only excepted, we must advise you to be very careful, not to put People here in Mind of that single Exemption. Several Proposals have been made for laying Taxes on North-America, and it is most easy to foresee, that the self-same Act of Parliament that shall lay them on our, will also lay them on your Estates, and on those of your Constituents.
9. On the Ninth Paragraph your Committee will only observe, that the People of Pennsylvania do likewise pay Duties and Excise for the Support of his Majesty’s Government; and other Taxes, which, considering their Ability, are perhaps proportionably equal to those paid by the Proprietary Family, or any other Subjects in England. We pay indeed as much as an Infant Colony can well bear, and we hope and believe the Justice of a British Parliament will never burden us with more. The Proprietaries Exemption was not published till now at their own Instance. It was made use of as a private Motive to themselves only, in the Representation.
  10. We cannot allow that you have always paid your Interpreter to his Satisfaction, because we know we have charged ourselves with Gratifications to him, when the Assembly has refused to pay him what he thought his Services deserved; and we make no Doubt he can remember such Instances: However, with respect to any Expences of that Sort, and many others here, we entered into them without any Expectation of being repaid, and should think it far beneath us to send the Accounts of them to the House of Representatives, as your Agent, employed by yourselves, might do for the Expences incurred by him. What we might reasonably expect, is, a thankful Acceptance of our Endeavours to serve the Publick; and if you do not think proper to make even that Return, we shall, nevertheless, be fully satisfied with the Consciousness of having rendered the Province all the Services in our Power.

10. On Enquiry, we have Reason to believe that the Interpreter’s Bills of Charge against the Province, have always been allowed and paid; and where his Accounts have contained blank Articles for his Service, he has been ask’d what would satisfy him, and the same has been allowed. We suppose the Instances alluded to, wherein the Assembly did not fully satisfy him, must have been such as the Proprietaries were concerned in by the Purchase of Lands, and a Part might accordingly be left for them to pay. We believe our Assemblies always have been, and we hope always will be, ready to acknowledge gratefully any Services render’d to the Publick by the Proprietaries; and not merely to acknowledge them, but to make adequate Returns.
  11. We do not conceive that any Act of Assembly does, or can establish, what you call a Monopoly in us for the Purchase of Lands: We derive no Right or Property from any such Law. It is under the King’s Royal Charter that we have the sole Right to make such Purchases; and it is under that same Charter that every Settler has a Right, through us, to the Estate he possesses in the Province. The Act itself, which you seem to allude to, acknowledges this Right to be so granted to us by the Charter, and is only declaratory thereof to the People, advertising them of a certain Truth, that they are liable, according to the Laws of Great-Britain, to Penalties for contravening such Right.
11. Whether the Monopoly of Lands, in Favour of the Proprietary, was established by the Royal Grant, or by Acts of Assembly, or by both, your Committee do not think it material at this Time to dispute, since the Reasoning in the Representation remains the same, viz. That those in whose Favour such Monopoly was erected, ought at least to bear a Part of the Expence necessary to secure them the full Benefit of it.
  12. Your Assertion that Treaties for Land are made at a less Expence to us, on Account of Provincial Presents being given at the same time, does not appear to us to be founded on Fact: The last Purchase was made on no other Account, but purely to save the Province the Expence of making another Present to some Indians who came down after the Time that the principal Deputation had received the Presents intended for the whole, and were on their Return back; and the Land was bought very dear on that Account. Other Treaties for Land have been made when Provincial Presents have not been given; and we do not, or ever  did, desire, that the Inhabitants should bear any Part of the Expence of Indians who come down solely at our Request to consent to the Sale of Lands, unless they stay on other publick Business also; and whenever they have come down on both Accounts, we are sensible the Expence has been divided in a Manner very favourable to the Publick.
12. In the twelfth Paragraph, three Things appear somewhat extraordinary to your Committee. 1. That the Proprietaries should deny that Treaties for Land are made at less Expence on Account of Provincial Presents accompanying them; which we think any disinterested Judge would at least allow to be probable. 2. That they should say the last Purchase was made on no other Account, but purely to save the Province the Expence of a Present; as if they had no Occasion to purchase more Land of the Indians, or found no Advantage in it. 3. That to prove such Purchases were not the cheaper on Account of Provincial Presents accompanying them, they should give an Instance in which, they themselves say, the Purchase was the dearer for want of such Presents. If Purchases are dearer to the Proprietaries when no Provincial Presents accompany them, does not this clearly confirm the Assertion of the Assembly, that they are the cheaper when there are such Presents? And does it not prove what the Proprietaries deny?
  13. We are far from desiring to avoid contributing to any publick Expence which it is reasonable we should bear a Part of altho’ our Estate is not, by Law, liable to be taxed. As we already have been, so we doubt not we always shall be, at a far greater Expence in attending the Affairs of the Province, than our Estate could be taxed at, if all the Estates in the Province were rated to the Publick Charges, which would be the only fair Way of establishing a Proportion. If we were willing to consent to any such Matter, the Value of our Estate, and of the Estates of all the Inhabitants, ought to be considered, and the whole Expence proportionably laid upon the whole Value; in which Case, you would find, that the Expence which we voluntarily submit to, out of Affection to the Inhabitants, is much more than such our Proportion so laid would amount to: Besides these general Expences, the First of us sent Cannon, at his own Charge, to the Amount of above Four Hundred Pounds Sterling, for the Defence of our City of Philadelphia, neglected by a late House of Representatives; which, alone, is such a Sum as the Proportion of a Tax on our Estate would not in many Years amount to.  And, as this is the Case, we are not disposed to enter into any Agreement with the House of Representatives for Payment of any particular Proportion of Indian, or other publick Expences, but shall leave it to them (to whom it of Right belongs) to provide for such Expences, as they shall judge necessary for the Publick Service.
13. It appears by their thirteenth Paragraph that the Proprietaries think the Part they voluntarily submit to bear, and expect always to bear, of publick Expences, is greater than their Proportion, equitably laid, would amount to. If this be so, and they are, as they say, “far from desiring to avoid contributing to any publick Expence which it is reasonable they should bear a Part of, altho’ their Estate is not by Law liable to be taxed;” your Committee are at a Loss to conceive, why they should refuse, “to enter into any Agreement for the Payment of any particular Proportion of Indian or other publick Expences,” when such Agreement might save them Money, and is propos’d to prevent Dissatisfactions, and to preserve Union and Harmony between them and the People; unless it be to shew their utter Contempt of such Union and Harmony, and how much they are above valuing the Peoples Regard.
The Charge on former Assemblies, that they neglected the Defence of the Proprietaries City, your Committee cannot but think unkind, when it is known to the World, that they gave many Thousand Pounds during the War to the King’s Use, besides paying near Three Thousand Pounds at one Time, to make good the Damages done to the Masters of Servants, by the irregular and oppressive Proceedings of the Proprietaries Lieutenant; and that their not providing Cannon to defend the City, was not from Neglect, but other Considerations set forth at large in the printed Proceedings of those Times, needless now to be repeated. At the same Time it may be remember’d, that tho’ the Defence of the Proprietaries City, as they are pleas’d to term it, by Batteries of Cannon, was more their Interest (we will not say Duty) than any other Person’s whatsoever, and they now represent it as a Thing so necessary, yet they themselves really neglected, and even discouraged, it; while some private Gentlemen gave Sums nearly equal to that they mention, and many contributed vastly more, considering their Circumstances, by which Means those Batteries were not only compleated in Season, but the Defence of both Town and Country in that Way provided for; whereas this boasted Assistance of Four Hundred Pounds worth of Cannon, was sent, like Venetian Succours, after the Wars were over. Yet we doubt not, but the Proprietary who sent them has long since had the Thanks of those who receiv’d them, tho’ we cannot learn that they ever were favour’d with any from him, for what they did and expended in Defence of his Share of the Province Property.
  14. As you desire to appear willing, on your Parts, to ease your Constituents of a small Part of the Indian Expence, by throwing it upon us, we shall, on our Part, and hereby do recommend it to you, to give them a real and far greater Relief, by taking off a large Share of that only Tax which is borne by them. As the general Expence amounts to little more than Three Thousand Pounds a Year, we conceive it may very well be provided for out of the Interest of the Paper Money, and one Half of the present Excise; especially if we shall be induced, from the State of your Trade (which we expect soon to receive) to consent to an Encrease of your Paper Currency. This would ease the Inhabitants of about Fifteen Hundred Pounds a Year, which would be felt by many of them, when they would not be sensible of the Trifle you propose we should contribute to the Publick Expences. We have directed the Governor to consent to such a Law when you shall think fit to present it to him.
14. The fourteenth Paragraph of the Proprietaries Answer seems calculated merely for the same Design with which they charge the Representation, viz. to amuse the weaker Part of the People. If they are really dispos’d to favour the Drinkers of spirituous Liquors, they may do it without a Law, by instructing their Lieutenants to abate Half the Licence Fees, which would enable the Retailers to sell proportionably cheaper; or to refuse Licences to more than Half the present Number of Publick Houses, which might prevent the Ruin of many Families, and the great Increase of Idleness, Drunkenness and other Immoralities among us.
  15. As we shall ever in the first Place endeavour to promote the real Interests of the good People of Pennsylvania, we make no Doubt of preserving an Union and Harmony between us and them, unless Men of warm or uneasy Spirits should unhappily procure themselves to be elected for Representatives, and should, for the Supporting of their own private Views, or Interests, influence their Brethren, otherwise honest and well-designing, to espouse their Cause; in such Case, indeed, Disputes may arise, wherein we shall engage with the utmost Reluctance; but even then, as we shall make the general Good the Rule of our Actions, we shall, on all such Occasions, if ever they should happen, steadily, and without wavering, pursue Measures the most likely to conduce to that good End.
15. In Return to the good Resolutions expressed by the Proprietaries in their fifteenth Section, your Committee hope that future, as well as past Assemblies, will likewise endeavour to make the Publick Good the Rule of their Actions, and upon all Occasions consult the true Interest and Honour of the Proprietary Family, whatever may be the Sentiments or Conduct of any of its particular Branches. To this End, we think the honest and free Remarks contain’d in this Report, may be more conducive than a Thousand flattering Addresses. And we hope, that when the Proprietaries shall think fit to reconsider this Matter, they will be persuaded, that agreeing to an equitable Proportion of Expence will be a good Means of taking away one Handle of Dissention from “Men of warm uneasy Spirits, if such should ever unhappily procure themselves to be elected.”
  16. The Representatives being annually chosen, we are aware that we are not writing now to the same Persons who sent the Representation to us; the Persons most forward to push on a Measure (which, from the Answer, we directed our Governor to give to the former Application he was desired to make to us, must be supposed disagreeable) may not now be in the House, but may be succeeded by more prudent Persons, returned for their Places, who would be careful not to press a Matter too far, in which the Rights of the People are not really concerned: However, the Answer we give must be to the Representation sent us. And we desire, in any Matter of the like Nature, that the House will be satisfied with such an Answer as the Governor may have Orders to give on our Behalf.
Thomas Penny,Richard Penn.
16. Yet if the Proprietaries are really desirous of preserving an Union and Harmony between themselves and this People, we cannot but be surprized at their last Paragraph, whereby they endeavour to cut off the Assemblies Access to them, in Cases where the Answers received from their Deputies, may not be thought agreeable to the Publick Good. No King of England, as we can remember, has ever taken on himself such State, as to refuse personal Applications from the meanest of his Subjects, where the Redress of a Grievance could not be obtain’d of his Officers. Even Sultans, Sophys, and other Eastern absolute Monarchs, will, it is said, sometimes sit whole Days to hear the Complaints and Petitions of their very Slaves; and are the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania become too great to be addressed by the Representatives of the Freemen of their Province? If they must not be reason’d with, because they have given Instructions, nor their Deputy because he has receiv’d them; our Meetings and Deliberations are henceforth useless; we have only to know their Will, and to obey.
To conclude; if this Province must be at more than Two Thousand Pounds a Year Expence, to support a Proprietary’s Deputy, who shall not be at Liberty to use his own Judgment in passing Laws [as is intimated to us in the fourteenth Section of the Answer we have been considering] but the Assent must be obtain’d from Chief Governors, at three Thousand Miles Distance, often ignorant or misinform’d in our Affairs, and who will not be apply’d to or reason’d with when they have given Instructions, we cannot but esteem those Colonies that are under the immediate Care of the Crown in a much more eligible Situation: And our sincere Regard for the Memory of our first Proprietary, must make us apprehend for his Children, that if they follow the Advice of Rehoboam’s Counsellors, they will, like him, absolutely lose—at least the Affections of their People. A Loss, which however they affect to despise, will be found of more Consequence to them than they seem at present to be aware of.
All which is humbly submitted to the Correction of the House by

Evan Morgan,
Arthur Patterson,

Benjamin Franklin,
John Wright,

Hugh Roberts,
John Armstrong,

Mahlon Kirkbride,
Moses Starr,

George Ashbridge,
James Burnside.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Collinson, 15 September 1753
From: Collinson, Peter
To: Franklin, Benjamin

My Dear friend
Lond. Sept: 15: 1753
As no Ship will Sail from Hence in a Month or 3 Weeks I take this oppertunity to Send by the Way of New York. I thank you for your Letter by Mr. Smith who has been Several times With Mee and by all that I can Judge and haveing your approbation I have recommended Him to Mr. Penn. What Effects it will have I cannot Saye but to Strengthen It. I hope the Arch-Bishop of Canterberry will Joyne with Mee, and I do not doubt It, to recommend Him to Mr. Penn to Endow a Professorship in the Academy by Intitleing him Pennian professor I have Said every thing I could Suggest to Engage Him, to give the finishing Stroke to your Noble Institution.
Its Prosperity rejoices my Heart. I hope Good Providence will Continue Its Influence over It, to the Latest Ages, that an unborn Offspring may Celebrate its Goodness and remember with Gratitude its First Founders.
I am with Affection Yours
P Collinson
Pray my Respects to your Son and thank Him for his Letter and Presents. I am much concern’d his Journal never came to hand. I carefully Sent It. How it happ’d to Miscarry cannot Saye.

 Addressed: To  Ben Franklin Esqr  Philadelphia


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Charles Woodmason: Poetical Epistle, 20 September 1753
From: Woodmason, Charles
To: Franklin, Benjamin

To Benjamin Franklin Esq; of Philadelphia, on his Experiments and Discoveries in Electricity.
Cooper River, S. Carolina, Sept. 20, 1753

 Let others muse on sublunary things,
The rise of empires and the fall of kings;

Thine is the praise, with bolder flight to soar,
And airy regions, yet untrack’d, explore;
To dictate science with imperial nod,
And save not ruin by an iron rod.

   *By the application of a rod of iron, or a wire, the effect of thunder and lightening is prevented.

If for thy birth, when latest times draw nigh,
As now for Homer’s, rival cities vie;
This spot perhaps unmov’d may hear the strife,
Content to claim the vigour of thy life;
To shew thy tomb, like Virgil’s shewn before,
With laurel, proof to lightning, covered o’er.
Happy that here we boast the guardian friend,
Where most the hostile elements contend:
This hour tremendous thunders strike my ear,
Keen light’nings dart, and threat’ning clouds appear:
Now fly the negroes from the impending storm!
The air how cold! this moment mild and warm.
Now down it pours! the tempest shakes the skies,
On flashes flashes, clouds on clouds arise;
The noxious rattle snake with fear deprest,
Now creeps for safety to his poisonous nest;
Bears, foxes, lynxes, seek the thickest brake,
Wolves, tygers, panthers in their caverns quake:
Now allegators diving quit the strand,
And birds unknown, in flocks repair to land;

Small riv’lets swell to streams, and streams to floods,
Loud whirlwinds rush impetuous thro’ the woods,
Huge oaks midst foaming torrents fiercely burn,
And tall pines blasted from their roots are torn:
The bolt descends and harrows up the ground,
And stones and sand are widely scatter’d round;
How near the welkin breaks! now nearer still!
But now askance, it drives o’er yonder hill;
The rain abates, the gloomy clouds retreat,
And all is light, serenity and heat:
The change how sudden! but how frequent too!
The change, at length, without one fear I view:
Sedate, composed, I hear the tempest roll,
Which once with terror shook my boding soul!
No fire I fear my dwelling shou’d invade,
No bolt transfix me, in the dreadful shade;
No falling steeple trembles from on high,
No shivered organs now in fragments fly,

   †The steeple and organ of St. Philip’s church at Charles Town, have been twice damaged by lightning.

The guardian point erected high in air,
Nature disarms, and teaches storms to spare.
So through the sultry deep unmov’d I sail,
When the wave whitens with a boding gale;
A fire ball strikes the mast a silent blow,
Then thunder speaks—no further shalt thou go;
Quick it descends the wire, around the shrouds,
Which checks the fury of the flaming clouds.
With hallow’d wands strange circles once were made,
To gull an ign’rant crowd, the jugglers trade;
Within the line no blue infernal fire,
Could pierce, but hence, malignant powers, retire;
What these pretended, Franklin, thou hast wrought,
And truth is own’d what once was fiction thought;
Within thy magic circle calm I sit,
Nor friends nor business in confusion quit;
Whate’er explosions dreadful break around,
Or fiery meteors sweep the crackling ground.

O friend, at once to science, and to man,
Persue each noble and each gen’rous plan;
With all the bliss beneficence obtains,
Be thine whate’er from gratitude it gains,
Be thine those honours that are virtue’s meed,
Whate’er to genius wisdom has decreed!
Accept this off’ring of an humble mind,
By sickness weaken’d—long to cares confin’d:
Tho’ yet untasted the Pierian spring,
In lonely woods she thus attempts to sing,
Where seldom muse before e’er tun’d a lay,
Where yet the graces slowly find their way:
Wild as the fragrant shrubs and blooming flow’rs
Which nature scatters round o’er artless bow’rs.
More soft and sweet will be her future strain,
Should this rude note thy approbation gain.

C.W.


Title: James Hamilton: Commission to Treat with the Indians, 22 September 1753
From: Hamilton, James
To:

The renewal of the French advance into the Ohio Valley was signalized in June 1752 by the attack on the Indian town of Pickawillany. Awakening slowly to the threat, the Pennsylvania Assembly the following May voted £200 to the Twightwees as a condolence, and £600 to the other tribes on the Ohio for “the Necessities of Life”—a Pennsylvania euphemism for guns and ammunition. The French pushed steadily forward, erecting forts at Presque Isle, Le Boeuf, and Venango, scornful of warnings from Indians in the English interest. In early September Virginia held a conference with the Ohio Indians at Winchester, but it produced few results: the Indians withdrew their appeal for a fort but did consent that Virginia should erect a stronghouse to protect its present of ammunition. From Winchester the Indians went to Pennsylvania to get that colony’s present, but refused to travel east of Carlisle. Governor Hamilton heard only on September 20 that they were coming, and then the report was they would reach Carlisle the next night. He quickly commissioned Richard Peters, secretary of the Council, Isaac Norris, speaker of the Assembly, and Franklin to proceed across the Susquehanna to meet them.

[September 22, 1753]
George the Second, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth; To our Trusty and well-beloved Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklyn, Esquires, Greeting:
  Whereas, some Chiefs of the Indians of the Six Nations, of the Shawanese, of the Delawares, and of the Twightwees, living on the Waters of River Ohio, a Branch of the Mississippi, our Good Friends and Allies, have signified to our Governor of our Province of Pennsylvania that they are earnestly desirous to renew the Leagues of Amity subsisting between Us and their Nations, and are now waiting at Carlisle, in the County of Cumberland, within our said Province, for this Purpose: Know Ye, that judging it may greatly contribute to the Safety and Benefit of all our Loving Subjects, Inhabitants of Our said Province of Pennsylvania, to hold a Treaty with these Indians agreeable to their Request, and Reposing Special Trust and Confidence in your Loyalty, Abilities, and Circumspection, We have thought fit to nominate and appoint You the said Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklyn, and Every of You, our Commissioners on Behalf of our Governor of our Province of Pennsylvania aforesaid, to treat with the said Indians now at Carlisle, or with their or any or every of their Chiefs or Delegates, and with them to renew, ratify, and confirm the Leagues of Amity subsisting between Our said Province of Pennsylvania and the said Nations of Indians; And further, to do, act, transact, and finally to conclude and agree with the Indians aforesaid all and every other matter and thing which to You shall appear necessary, touching or in any wise concerning the Premises, as fully and amply to all Intents, Constructions, and Purposes, as Our Governor of Our Province of Pennsylvania aforesaid might or could do being Personally present. Hereby ratifying, confirming, and holding for firm and effectual whatsoever You, the said Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklyn, or any of You, shall Lawfully do in and about the Premises. In Testimony whereof We have caused the Great Seal of our said Province to be hereunto affixed. Witness, James Hamilton, Esquire, (by Vertue of a Commission from Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Esquires, true and absolute Proprietaries of the said Province, And with Our Royal Approbation) Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province aforesaid, and Counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, upon Delaware, at Philadelphia, the Twenty-Second Day of September, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-three, and in the Twenty-Seventh Year of Our Reign.
James Hamilton


Title: Memorandum: Preliminary Conference with the Indians, 26 September 1753
From:
To:

Peters, Norris, and Franklin were commissioned on September 22 to meet the Indians at Carlisle and they proceeded to the westward immediately. They reached the house of Conrad Weiser, the province interpreter, on the Tulpehocken on September 24 and, setting out next morning and making all speed, they covered sixty miles and rode into Carlisle on the afternoon of September 26. The Indians had just arrived, in the company of George Croghan and Andrew Montour. The conference began inauspiciously, for the commissioners had outrun the wagons carrying the province’s presents, and no formalities could begin until the goods were actually distributed. While they waited, the commissioners held informal conversations with Croghan, Scaroyady, and others about the treaty at Winchester and the temper of the Ohio Indians. To bind the Indians more closely to the British interest they ordered additional presents from an Indian trader. Incomplete notes of the conversations of September 26–30 are printed here. The treaty opened formally on October 1 (see below, pp. 84–107).

[September 26, 1753]
They drank Health to the English. We drank their Healths. They ours. They drank the King &c. We wish’d them good Night; and told them we would send for them again tomorrow.
Orders to all Tavern keepers and others not to let the Indians have any Spirituous Liquors.

Thursday 27. Sept.
Considering the Goods not come agreed to forbear further Treaty till their Arrival, It being necessary the Presents of Condolence should be first made to wipe away Tears, &c. of which we let the Indians know.
Enquir’d of Croghan and Montour concerning the Virginia Treaty and learnt that the Indians had now forbid the Virginians building the Fort at Mohongala. They would defend the Country themselves and drive off the French, provided they might be supply’d with Powder and Lead. These should be lodg’d in a particular Place under the Care of Trent, Guest, and Montour.

The Half King is gone to warn off the French. If they will not go he will strike &c.
The Council at Onondago neglect them. Therefore they will stir themselves.
The Virginia Presents chiefly fine Cloths, and a few Guns.
  Conrad Weiser talks privately with a few Indians, learns that the Cagnawaga Indians who came with the French were dissatisfied with the Expedition; &c.
Commissioners Agree with J. Carson for a Quantity Goods to be sent hither tomorrow, at Philadelphia Price with the Carriage.
12 or 14 Gentlemen dine with us at our Expence.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Elizabeth Douse: Mortgage Deed, 27 September 1753
From: Douse, Elizabeth
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Franklin’s eldest sister Elizabeth (C.I) inherited from her first husband Joseph Berry a house and lot on Unity Street, Boston, and continued to live there with her second husband Richard Douse. On August 22, 1748, Richard and Elizabeth Douse mortgaged the property to Benjamin Franklin as security for a debt of £60 Pennsylvania currency. Now, following Richard Douse’s death, the date of which has not been found, his widow renewed the mortgage in her own name, this time acknowledging a debt of £100, which presumably included unpaid interest on the original obligation.
Apparently Franklin did not expect or intend that Elizabeth should repay the debt. In his 1757 will he bequeathed the mortgage to his youngest sister Jane Mecom, on condition that Elizabeth should enjoy undisturbed possession during her life, regardless of possible nonpayment of principal or interest. When Elizabeth died, August 25, 1759, and he took title, the property was appraised at £150 and the indebtedness had increased to £251 17s. 11⅕d. In 1763 he had the house put in repair and rented and the income paid to Jane Mecom for the support of her insane son Peter. In 1784 he installed her in the house, where she lived for the rest of her life. In his last will, 1788, he bequeathed the property to her outright.

September 27, 1753
Abstract: Elizabeth Douse (spelled “Dowse” throughout) of Boston, widow, acknowledges a debt to Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia of £100 Pennsylvania currency, for which she has given bond of £200 for payment of principal and lawful interest. As further security and in consideration of the additional payment by him of five shillings, she hereby grants, sells, and confirms to Franklin that messuage or dwelling house with the land under it situated at the northerly end of Boston, bounded southeasterly on Unity Street, 22 ft. 9 in. in breadth; northeasterly on land of John Dodell, 59 ft. 2 in. in length; northwesterly partly on land belonging to Christs [sic] Church and partly on land formerly belonging to John Hobby, deceased, 22 ft. 9 in.; southwesterly on the land and house of Jonathan Brown; with the privilege of the drain belonging to the estate of Ebenezer Clough and all other drains she has any privilege to, together with all outhouses, buildings, rights, and appurtenances belonging to the premises. She covenants that she is the sole and lawful owner, and that the property is clear of all encumbrances except a deed of mortgage by Richard Douse of Boston, mariner, deceased, and herself to Benjamin Franklin, dated August 22, 1748; and she warrants the title. The condition of this deed is that if she pays Franklin the £100 debt with lawful interest on or before September 27, 1754, this deed is to become void; otherwise to remain in full force. Signed and sealed by Elizabeth Douse, September 27, 1753; witnessed by Thomas Hubbart and James Barker, Suffolk, Boston, October 4, 1753. Acknowledged, October 11, 1753, before John Phillips, justice of the peace.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, September 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Collinson, Peter

Philadelphia, September 1753.
In my former Paper on this Subject, wrote first in 1747, enlarged and sent to England in 1749, I considered the Sea as the grand source of Lightning, imagining its luminous Appearance to be owing to Electric Fire, produced by Friction between the Particles of Water and those of Salt. Living far from the Sea I had then no opportunity of making Experiments on the Sea Water: And so embraced this opinion too hastily.
For in 1750 and 1751, being occasionally on the Sea Coast, I found, by Experiments, that Sea Water in a Bottle, tho’ at first it would by Agitation appear luminous, yet in a few hours it lost that Virtue; hence, and from this, that I could not by agitating a Solution of Sea Salt in Water produce any Light, I first began to doubt of my former Hypothesis, and to suspect that the luminous appearance in Sea Water must be owing to some other Principle.
I then considered whether it were not possible, that the Particles of Air, being Electrics per se, might, in hard Gales of Wind, by their Friction against Trees, Hills, Buildings, &c. as so many minute electric Globes, rubbing against non-electric Cushions, draw the electric Fire from the Earth; and that the rising Vapours might receive that fire from the Air, and by such means the Clouds become electrified.
If this were so, I imagined that by forcing a constant violent Stream of Air against my Prime Conductor, by Bellows, I should electrify it negatively, the rubbing Particles of Air, drawing from it part of its natural Quantity of the electric Fluid. I accordingly made the Experiment, but it did not succeed.
In September 1752, I erected an Iron Rod to draw the Lightning down into my House, in order to make some Experiments on it, with two Bells to give Notice when the Rod should be electrified. A Contrivance obvious to every Electrician.
I found the Bells rang sometimes when there was no Lightning or Thunder, but only a dark Cloud over the Rod; that sometimes after a Flash of Lightning they would suddenly stop; and at other times, when they had not rang before, they would, after a Flash, suddenly begin to ring; that the Electricity was sometimes very faint, so that when a small Spark was obtained, another could not be got for sometime after; at other times the Sparks would follow extremely quick, and once I had a continual Stream from Bell to Bell, the size of a Crow-Quill. Even during the same Gust there were considerable variations.
In the Winter following I conceived an Experiment, to try whether the Clouds were electrified positively, or negatively: but my pointed Rod, with its Apparatus, becoming out of Order, I did not refit it ’till towards the Spring, when I expected the warm Weather would bring on more frequent Thunder Clouds.
The Experiment was this: To take two Vials, charge one of them with Lightning from the Iron Rod, and give the other an equal Charge by the electric Glass Globe thro’ the prime Conductor: When charged, to place them on a Table within three or four Inches of each other, a small cork Ball being suspended by a fine Silk Thread from the Cieling, so as it might play between the Wires. If both Bottles then were electrify’d positively, the Ball being attracted and repelled by one, must be also repelled by the other. If the one positively, and the other negatively; then the Ball would be attracted and repelled alternately by each, and continue to play between them as long as any considerable Charge remained.
Being very intent on making this Experiment, it was no small Mortification to me, that I happened to be abroad during two of the greatest Thunder Storms we had early in the Spring; and tho’ I had given orders in my Family that if the Bells rang when I was from home, they should catch some of the Lightning for me in electrical Vials, and they did so, yet it was mostly dissipated before my Return; and in some of the other Gusts, the Quantity of Lightning I was able to obtain, was so small, and the Charge so weak, that I could not satisfy myself: yet I sometimes saw what heighten’d my Suspicions and inflam’d my Curiosity.
At last, on the 12th. of April 1753, there being a smart Gust of some Continuance, I charged one Vial pretty well with Lightning, and the other equally, as near as I could judge, with Electricity from my Glass Globe; and having placed them properly, I beheld, with great surprize and pleasure, the Cork Ball play briskly between them; and was convinced that one Bottle was electrised negatively.
I repeated this Experiment several times during that and in eight succeeding Gusts, always with the same Success: And being of Opinion (for Reasons I formerly gave in my Letter to Mr. Kinnersley, since printed in London) that the Glass Globe electrises positively; I concluded that the Clouds are always electrised negatively, or have always in them less than their natural Quantity of the electric Fluid.
Yet notwithstanding so many Experiments, it seems I concluded too soon; for at last, June the 6th. in a Gust which continued from five a Clock, P. M. to 7, I met with one Cloud that was electrised positively, tho’ several that passed over my Rod before, during the same Gust, were in the negative State.
This was thus discovered:
I had another concurring Experiment which I often repeated, to prove the negative State of the Clouds, viz. While the Bells were ringing, I took the Vial charged from the Glass Globe, and applied its Wire to the erected Rod. Considering That if the Clouds were electrised positively, the Rod, which received its Electricity from them, must be so too; and then the additional positive Electricity of the Vial would make the Bells ring faster: But, if the Clouds were in a negative State, they must exhaust the Electrical Fluid from my Rod, and bring that into the same negative State with themselves; and then the Wire of a positively charged Vial, supplying the Rod with what it wanted (which it was obliged otherwise to draw from the Earth by means of the pendulous brass Ball playing between the two Bells) the Ringing would cease ’till the Bottle was discharged.
In this manner I quite discharged into the Rod several Vials, that were charged from the Glass Globe, the electric Fluid streaming from the Wire to the Rod, ’till the Wire would receive no Spark from the Finger; and during this Supply to the Rod from the Vial, the Bells stopt ringing; but by continuing the Application of the Vial Wire to the Rod, I exhausted the natural Quantity from the inside Surface of the same Vials, or, as I call it, charged them negatively.
At length, while I was charging a Vial by my Glass Globe, to repeat this Experiment, my Bells, of themselves, stopt ringing, and after some pause began to ring again. But now when I approached the Wire of the charged Vial to the Rod, instead of the usual Stream that I expected from the Wire to the Rod, there was no Spark, not even when I brought the Wire and the Rod to touch; yet the Bells continued ringing vigorously; which proved to me, that the Rod was then positively electrify’d, as well as the Wire of the Vial, and equally so; and consequently, that the particular Cloud then over the Rod was in the same positive State. This was near the End of the Gust.
But this was a single Experiment; which however destroys my first too general Conclusion, and reduces me to this, That the Clouds of a Thunder Gust are most commonly in a negative State of Electricity, but sometimes in a positive State.
The latter I believe is rare; for tho’ I soon after the last Experiment set out on a Journey to Boston, and was from home most part of the Summer, which prevented my making farther Trials and Observations; yet Mr. Kinnersley returning from the Islands just as I left home, pursued the Experiments during my Absence, and informs me, that he always found the Clouds in the negative State.
So that for the most part in Thunder Strokes, ’tis the Earth that strikes into the Clouds, and not the Clouds that strike into the Earth.

Those who are versed in electrical Experiments, will easily conceive that the Effects and Appearances must be nearly the same in either case; the same Explosion, and the same Flash between one Cloud and another, and between the Clouds and Mountains, &c. the same rending of Trees, Walls, &c. which the electric Fluid meets with in its Passage, and the same fatal Shock to animal Bodies; and that pointed Rods fixt on Buildings or Masts of Ships, and communicating with the Earth, or Sea, must be of the same Service in restoring the Equilibrium silently between the Earth and Clouds, or in conducting a Flash or Stroke, if one should be, so as to save harmless the House or Vessel: For Points have equal Power to throw off, as to draw on the electric Fire, and Rods will conduct up as well as down.
But tho’ the Light gained from these Experiments makes no Alteration in the Practice, it makes a considerable one in the Theory. And now we as much need an Hypothesis to explain by what means the Clouds become negatively, as before to show how they became positively electrify’d.
I cannot forbear venturing some few Conjectures on this Occasion; They are what occur to me at present; and tho’ future Discoveries should prove them not wholly right, yet they may in the mean time be of some use, by stirring up the Curious to make more Experiments and occasion more exact Disquisitions.
I conceive then, that this Globe of Earth and Water, with its Plants, Animals and Buildings, have, diffused thro’out their Substance, a Quantity of the Electric Fluid, just as much as they can contain, which I call the natural Quantity.
That this natural Quantity is not the same in all kinds of common Matter under the same Dimensions, nor in the same kind of common Matter in all Circumstances; but a solid Foot, for instance, of one kind of common Matter may contain more of the Electric Fluid than a solid Foot of some other kind of common Matter; and a pound weight of the same kind of common Matter, may, when in a rarer State, contain more of the electric Fluid than when in a denser State.
For the electric Fluid, being attracted by any Portion of common Matter, the Parts of that Fluid, (which have among themselves a mutual Repulsion) are brought so near to each other by the Attraction of the common Matter that absorbs them, as that their Repulsion is equal to the condensing Power of Attraction in common Matter, and then such Portion of common Matter will absorb no more.
Bodies of different kinds having thus attracted and absorbed what I call their natural Quantity, i.e. just as much of the electric Fluid as is suited to their Circumstances of Density, Rarity, and Power of Attracting, do not then show any Signs of Electricity among each other.
And if more electric Fluid be added to one of these bodies, it does not enter, but spreads on the Surface, forming an Atmosphere, and then such Body shows Signs of Electricity.
I have in a former Paper compared common Matter to a Sponge, and the electric Fluid to Water: I beg leave once more to make use of the same Comparison to illustrate farther my Meaning in this particular.
When a Sponge is somewhat condensed by being squeezed between the Fingers, it will not receive and retain so much Water as when in its more loose and open State.
If more squeezed and condensed, some of the Water will come out of its inner Parts and flow on the Surface.
If the Pressure of the Fingers be intirely removed, the Sponge will not only resume what was lately forced out, but attract an additional Quantity.
As the Sponge in its rarer State will naturally attract and absorb more Water, and in its denser State will naturally attract and absorb less Water; we may call the Quantity it attracts and absorbs in either State, its natural Quantity, the State being considered.
Now what the Sponge is to Water, the same is Water to the Electric Fluid.
When a Portion of Water is in its common dense State, it can hold no more electric Fluid than it has; if any be added, it spreads on the Surface.
When the same Portion of Water is rarifyed into Vapour, and forms a Cloud, it is then capable of receiving and absorbing a much greater Quantity; there is room for each particle to have an electric Atmosphere.
Thus Water in its rarifyed state, or in the form of a Cloud, will be in a negative State of Electricity; it will have less than its natural Quantity; that is, less than it is naturally capable of attracting and absorbing in that State.
Such a Cloud, then, coming so near the Earth as to be within the striking Distance, will receive from the Earth a Flash of the Electric Fluid; which Flash, to supply a great extent of Cloud, must sometimes contain a very great Quantity of that Fluid.
Or such a Cloud, passing over Woods of tall Trees, may from the Points and sharp edges of their moist Top Leaves receive silently some Supply.
A Cloud being by any means supplied from the Earth may strike into other Clouds that have not been supplied, or not so much supply’d; and those to others, ’till an Equilibrium is produced among all the Clouds that are within striking Distance of each other.
The Cloud thus supplied, having parted with much of what it first received, may require and receive a fresh Supply from the Earth, or from some other Cloud, which by the wind is brought into such a Situation as to receive it more readily from the Earth.
Hence repeated and continual Strokes and Flashes ’till the Clouds have all got nearly their natural Quantity as Clouds; or ’till they have descended in Showers, and are united again with this terraqueous Globe, their Original.
Thus Thunder Clouds are generally in a negative State of Electricity compared with the Earth, agreeable to most of our Experiments; yet as by one Experiment we found a Cloud electrised positively, I conjecture that, in that Case, such Cloud after having received what was, in its rare State, only its natural Quantity, became compressed by the driving Winds, or some other means, so that part of what it had absorbed was forced out, and formed an electric Atmosphere around it in its denser State. Hence it was capable of communicating positive Electricity to my Rod.
To show that a Body in different Circumstances of Dilatation and Contraction is capable of receiving and retaining more or less of the Electric Fluid on its Surface, I would relate the following Experiment. I placed a clean Wine Glass on the Floor, and on it a small silver Cann. In the Cann I put about 3 yards of brass Chain, to one End of which I fastened a Silk Thread which went right up to the Cieling where it passed over a Pully, and came down again to my hand, that I might at Pleasure draw the Chain up out of the Cann, extending it ’till within a Foot of the Cieling and let it gradually sink into the Cann again. From the Cieling by another Thread of fine raw Silk, I suspended a small light Lock of Cotton, so as that when it hung perpendicularly, it came in Contact with the Side of the Cann. Then approaching the Wire of a charged Vial to the Cann, I gave it a Spark which flowed round it in an electric Atmosphere; and the Lock of Cotton was repelled from the Side of the Cann to the distance of about 9 or 10 Inches. The Cann would not then receive another Spark from the Wire of the Vial; but as I gradually drew up the Chain, the Atmosphere of the Cann diminished by flowing over the rising Chain, and the Lock of Cotton accordingly drew nearer and nearer to the Cann; and then, if I again brought the Vial Wire near the Cann, it would receive another Spark and the Cotton fly off again to its first Distance; and thus, as the Chain was drawn higher, the Cann would receive more Sparks; because the Cann and extended Chain were capable of supporting a greater Atmosphere than the Cann with the Chain gathered up into its Belly. And that the Atmosphere round the Cann was diminished by raising the Chain, and increased again by lowering it, is not only agreable to Reason, since the Atmosphere of the Chain must be drawn from that of the Cann, when it rose, and returned to it again, when it fell; but was also evident to the Eye, the Lock of Cotton always approaching the Cann, when the Chain was drawn up, and receding, when it was let down again.
Thus we see that Increase of Surface makes a Body capable of receiving a greater Electric Atmosphere: But this Experiment does not, I own, fully demonstrate my new Hypothesis; for the Brass and Silver still continue in their solid state, and are not rarify’d into Vapour, as the Water is in Clouds. Perhaps some future Experiments on vapouriz’d Water may set this Matter in a clearer Light.
One seemingly material Objection arises to the new Hypothesis, and it is this. If Water in its rarify’d State as a Cloud, requires and will absorb more of the electric Fluid than when in its dense State as Water, why does it not acquire from the Earth all it wants at the Instant of its leaving the Surface, while it is yet near, and but just rising in Vapour? To this Difficulty I own I cannot at present give a Solution satisfying to myself. I thought however that I ought to state it in its full Force, as I have done, and submit the whole to Examination.
And I would beg leave to recommend it to the Curious in this Branch of Natural Philosophy, to repeat with care and accurate Observation the Experiments I have reported in this and former Papers relating to positive and negative Electricity, with such other relative ones as shall occur to them, that it may be certainly known whether the Electricity communicated by a Glass Globe be really positive. And also I would request all who may have an Opportunity of observing the recent Effects of Lightning on Buildings, Trees, &c. that they would consider them particularly with a View to discover the Direction. But in these Examinations, this one thing is always to be understood, viz. That a Stream of the electric Fluid passing thro’ Wood, Brick, Metal &c. while such Fluid passes in small Quantity, the mutually repulsive Power of its Parts is confined and overcome by the Cohesion of the Parts of the Body it passes through, so as to prevent an Explosion; but when the Fluid comes in a Quantity too great to be confined by such Cohesion, it explodes and rends or fuses the Body that endeavoured to confine it. If it be Wood, Brick, Stone, or the like, the Splinters will flie off on that Side where there is least Resistance. And thus when a Hole is struck thro’ Paste board by the electrify’d Jar, if the Surfaces of the Paste board are not confin’d or compress’d, there will be a Bur raised all around the Hole on both Sides the Pasteboard; but if one side be confined, so that the Bur cannot be raised on that side, it will be all raised on the other, which way soever the Fluid was directed. For the Bur round the outside of the Hole, is the Effect of the Explosion every way from the Center of the Stream, and not an Effect of the Direction.
In every Stroke of Lightning, I am of Opinion that the Stream of the electric Fluid moving to restore the Equilibrium between the Cloud and the Earth, does always previously find its Passage and mark out as I may say its own Course, taking in its way all the Conductors it can find, such as Metals, damp Walls, moist Wood, &c. and will go considerably out of a direct Course for the sake of the Assistance of good Conductors; and that in this Course it is actually moving, tho’ silently and imperceptibly, before the Explosion in and among the Conductors; which Explosion happens only when the Conductors cannot discharge it as fast as they receive it, by reason of their being incompleat, disunited, or not of the best Materials for Conducting. Metalline Rods, therefore, of Sufficient Thickness, and extending from the highest Part of an Edifice to the Ground, being of the best Materials and compleat Conductors, will, I think, secure the Building from Damage; either by restoring the Equilibrium so fast as to prevent a Stroke, or by conducting it in the Substance of the Rod as far as the Rod goes, so that there shall be no Explosion, but what is above its Point, between that and the Cloud.
If it be asked what Thickness of a Metalline Rod may be supposed sufficient? in answer I would remark, that 5 large glass Jarrs, such as I have described in my former Papers, discharge a very great Quantity of Electricity, which nevertheless will be all conducted round the corner of a Book by the fine Filleting of Gold on the Cover, it following the Gold, the farthest way about, rather than take the shorter Course thro the Cover, that not being so good a Conductor. Now in this Line of Gold the Metal is so extreamly thin as to be little more than the Colour of Gold, and on an 8 vo. Book is not in the whole an Inch square and therefore not the 36th part of a Grain according to M. Reaumur; yet ’tis sufficient to conduct the Charge of 5 large Jarrs, and how many more I know not. Now I suppose a Wire of ¼ Inch Diameter to contain about 5000 times as much Metal as there is in that Gold Line, and if so, it will conduct the Charge of 25,000 such Glass Jarrs, which is a Quantity, I imagine far beyond what was ever contained in any one Stroke of natural Lightning. But a Rod of ½ Inch Diameter would conduct four times as much as one of ¼.
And with regard to Conducting; Tho’ a certain Thickness of Metal be required to conduct a great Quantity of Electricity and at the same time keep its own Substance firm and inseparated; and a less Quantity, as a very small Wire for instance, will be destroy’d by the Explosion; yet such small Wire will have answered the end of conducting that Stroke, tho’ it become incapable of conducting another. And considering the extream Rapidity with which the electric Fluid moves without exploding, when it has a free Passage, or compleat metal Communication, I should think a vast Quantity would be conducted in a short time, either to or from a Cloud, to restore its Equilibrium with the Earth, by Means of a very small Wire; and therefore thick Rods should seem not so necessary. However, as the Quantity of Lightning discharged in one Stroke cannot well be measur’d, and in different Strokes is certainly very various, in some much greater than in others; and as Iron (the best Metal for the Purpose, being least apt to fuse) is cheap; it may be well enough to provide a larger Canal to guide that impetuous Blast, than we imagine necessary: For though one middling Wire may be sufficient, two or three can do no harm. And Time, with careful Observations well compared, will at length point out the proper Size to greater Certainty.
Pointed Rods erected on Edifices may likewise often prevent a Stroke in the following manner. An Eye so situated as to view horizontally the under Side of a Thunder Cloud, will see it very ragged, with a Number of separate Fragments or petty Clouds one under another, the lowest sometimes not far from the Earth. These, as so many Stepping-Stones, assist in conducting a Stroke between the Cloud and a Building. To represent these by an Experiment. Take two or three Locks of fine loose Cotton, connect one of them with the Prime Conductor by a fine Thread of two Inches (which may be spun out of the same Lock by the Fingers) another to that, and the third to the second, by like Threads. Turn the Globe, and you will see these Locks extend themselves towards the Table (as the lower small Clouds do towards the Earth) being attracted by it: But on presenting a sharp Point erect under the lowest, it will shrink up to the second, the second to the first, and all together to the Prime Conductor, where they will continue as long as the Point continues under them. May not in like manner, the small electrised Clouds, whose Equilibrium with the Earth is soon restored by the Point, rise up to the main Body, and by that means occasion so large a Vacancy, as that the grand Cloud cannot strike in that Place?

These Thoughts, my dear Friend, are many of them crude and hasty, and if I were merely ambitious of acquiring some Reputation in Philosophy, I ought to keep them by me, ’till corrected and improved by Time and farther Experience. But since even short Hints, and imperfect Experiments in any new Branch of Science, being communicated, have oftentimes a good Effect, in exciting the attention of the Ingenious to the Subject, and so becoming the Occasion of more exact disquisitions (as I before observed) and more compleat Discoveries, you are at Liberty to communicate this Paper to whom you please; it being of more Importance that Knowledge should increase, than that your Friend should be thought an accurate Philosopher.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to James Bowdoin, 18 October 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Bowdoin, James

Dear Sir
Philada. Oct. 18. 1753
I recollect that I promis’d to send you Dr. Brownrigg’s Treatise on Common Salt. You will receive it herewith. I hope it may be of use in the Affair of your Fishery. Please to communicate it to Capt. Erwin, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Boutineau, or any other of your Friends who may be desirous of seeing it.
Since my Return from Boston, I have been to our Western Frontiers on a Treaty with the Ohio Indians. They complain’d much of the Abuses they suffer from our Traders, and earnestly requested us to put the Trade under some Regulation. If you can procure and send me your Truckhouse Law and a particular Account of the Manner of executing it, with its Consequences, &c. so that we may have the Benefit of your Experience, you will much oblige me; and if you have found it a useful Law, I am in hopes we shall be induc’d to follow your good Example.
My Compliments to Mrs. Bowdoin, and all enquiring Friends. With much Respect and Esteem I am, Dear Sir, Your most humble Servant
B Franklin
Mr. Bowdoin

 Addressed: To  Mr James Bowdoin  Mercht  Boston


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Johnson, 27 October 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Johnson, Samuel

Dear Sir
Philada. Oct. 27. 1753
I herewith send you Twelve of the Noetica’s. Ten are bound as you desired; which are all I have of that best Paper, the other two are more ordinary. I hope they will go safe to hand.
My sincere Respects to good Madam Johnson and your valuable Sons. With great Esteem and Regard, I am, Dear Sir, Your most humble Servant
B Franklin
 Addressed: To  The Revd. Dr Saml Johnson  at Stratford  Connecticut  With a Parcel


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 27 October 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Strahan, William

Dear Sir,
Philada. Oct. 27 1753
I have your Favour of June 27, and am quite surpriz’d at the Conduct of Mr. Harris. He is return’d to Maryland as I hear, a Parson!
I have now received Bower’s 2d Vol. and shall send to the Trenton Library to enquire after Crito and Delaresse.

The Sum was £25 to which I limited the Books, &c. to be sent my Nephew Benja. Mecom. But if you have sent to the Amount of £30, ’tis not amiss.
I am now about to establish a small Printing Office in favour of another Nephew, at Newhaven in the Colony of Connecticut in New England; a considerable Town in which there is an University, and a Prospect that a Bookseller’s Shop with a Printing House may do pretty well. I would therefore request you to bespeak for me of Mr. Caslon, viz.

300 lb
Long primmer, with Figures and Signs sufficient for an

Almanack
}
Rom. and Italic

  300 lb
Pica

  300 lb
English

  100 lb
Great Primer

  60 lb
Double Pica

  50 lb
Two line English

  40 lb
Two line Great Primer

  30 lb
Two line Capitals, and Flowers of different Founts

  20 lb
Quotations

As Mr. Caslon has different Longprimmers, Pica’s, &c. I beg the Favour of your Judgment to chuse and order the best.
To which add,

A compleat good new Press
2 pair Blankets
2 pair Ballstocks
Some Riglets, Gutter Sticks, Side Sticks, Quoins, &c.
3 pair Chases of different Sizes, the biggest Demi
2 folio Galleys, each with 4 Slices
4 Quarto Galleys

A few Facs, Head and Tail pieces, 3 or 4 of each
2 Doz brass Rule
2 good Composing Sticks
2 Cags of Ink, one weak the other strong

With such another small Cargo of Books and Stationary as I desired you to send to Antigua, for a Beginning.
Mesnard sails in a Week or two, by whom I shall send you Bills for £100 Sterling. But desire you would immediately on receipt of this bespeak the Letter, &c. that we may not be disappointed of having them per first Ship to Newhaven or New York in the Spring. If sent to Newhaven, direct them to the Care of Mr. Thomas Darling, Merchant there. If no Vessel to Newhaven, then to New York, to the Care of Mr. Parker, Printer.
Insure the whole.
The Furniture may be pack’d in the large Case that contains the Press.
If you can persuade your Pressmaker to go out of his old Road a little, I would have the Ribs made not with the Face rounding outwards, as usual, but a little hollow or rounding inwards from end to end: And the Cramps made of hard cast Brass, fix’d not across the Ribs, but longways so as to slide in the hollow Face of the Ribs. The Reason is, that Brass and Iron work better together than Iron and Iron; Such a Press never gravels; the hollow Face of the Ribs keeps the Oil better, and the Cramps bearing on a larger Surface do not wear as in the common Method. Of this I have had many Years Experience.
I need not desire you to agree with the Workmen on the most reasonable Terms you can; and as this Affair will give you Trouble, pray charge Commissions. I shall not think my self a Whit the less oblig’d.
My Compliments to Mrs. Strahan, Master Billy, &c. in which my Wife and Children join with Dear Sir, Your most humble Servant
B Franklin
 Addressed: To  Mr William Strahan  Printer  London  via Bristol